Lavender
by Karategurl
Summary: Basically, a girl with two guardian angels (actually, a guardian angel and a guardian hobbit-angel) joins the Nine on the quest to destroy the ring. Please review!
1. Default Chapter

She felt the wind get knocked out of her as the big kid hit her repeatedly. His friend held her from behind. She hadn't done anything to them. She had simply been sitting on the porch, reading. Yeah, downtown Manhattan wasn't the best place to sit on the steps of your apartment building, past midnight, and read Sherlock Holmes, but it was better than being inside. Her parents were fighting. Again. She was careful not to get involved this time. Last time she got involved, she wound up with a black eye and grounded for a month. They had been at it for hours. She couldn't sleep, so she snuck outside with her book and flashlight. They wouldn't notice she was gone. Sometimes she didn't think they even noticed they HAD a fourteen- year-old daughter. The kid stopped hitting her, and she dropped to the ground. His face, leering at her, swam in and out of focus. Then the world began to spin and everything went black.  
  
Everything was white. A voice whispered from somewhere, echoing all around her, "You'll be okay.Everything is fine.You'll be all right."  
  
"Is she okay?" a voice asked. "I don't know," someone replied. She groaned and opened her eyes to see a pair of big brown eyes, directly in her face, staring back. Instinctively, she screamed and punched whoever it was in the nose.HARD. He landed on the floor with a thump. "Where am I?" she demanded. "Ribbendell," the guy replied through a bloody nose. "We foud you in da woods, and we brought you here so da elbs could heal you." She shrugged. "I dunno how I got here, but it's better than where I was before." She looked around the room. She was in a soft bed in a spacious room overlooking a waterfall and mountains and a forest and a gorgeous city. She noticed someone else in the room. He was standing nervously to the side, like she might hit him, too. She noticed that both he and the guy she had punched (who was still sitting on the floor with a bloody nose) had rather large feet, curly blond hair, and pointy ears. She stuck her hand out to this new person. "Name's Lavender," she said. "What's yours?" "Merry." "I'm Pippin," the one with the bloody nose said. "Sorry I hit you," Lavender said. "You just kind of surprised me." "Oh no, it's fine," he said, as if it happened every day. Merry studied her. She stared back. "I've never seen a girl hobbit with such short hair," he commented. "WHAT!" she exploded. "YOU THINK I'M A HOBBIT? WHAT THE HELL'S A HOBBIT? WHERE AM I?" Lavender leaped out of bed, and immediately noticed the increase in feet size, and her lack of shoes. She also noticed, when she looked in a mirror, that her ears were pointy. And that she was a good deal shorter. As short as Merry and Pippin. She began to piece things together. Her hair, however, was unchanged. It was still in its natural, strawberry blond color, cut very short. She was glad.  
  
Despite the fact that she had a black eye and was covered with bruises, Lavender was out of bed and running around by that afternoon. Merry had found her book and flashlight when they found her, and had returned them. She loved being away from home. Pippin and Merry quickly became her friends. They really liked her outgoing, rebellious, tomboyish personality. The only thing she didn't like about "Ribbendell" was the female elves. They fussed over her, and put makeup on her (which she scrubbed right off), and tried to make her wear dresses. The first time this happened, Lavender ripped the dress off and threw on her old T-shirt and jeans (even baggier on her now that she had been unconscious for a while and had lost weight) and put her baseball cap on backwards. They made her put on that confounded, white, lacy, itchy dress again. Quick as a flash, she grabbed her baseball cap and put it on backwards once again. Then she ran out of the room as fast as she could, leaping down the stairs and landing with a thump. By the end of the day, they had given up on trying to make Lavender wear a dress, and had given her pants and a shirt to wear, like the other four hobbits (Frodo and Sam had not been present earlier). By the end of the day, her dress was ruined. It was ripped, muddy, and soaking wet. Lavender had run all over the place in it, gotten it snagged on branches, tripped and fallen face-first into the dirt, jumped in mud puddles, and even went swimming in it. Merry and Pippin couldn't believe it when they saw her jump right into the water (she hung out with them. Frodo and Sam kept to themselves). Eventually, her dress was confiscated, along with her old clothes. She was given pants and a shirt that fit, along with a backpack to carry her stuff in. "Stuff" being her book and flashlight. They wouldn't give her a sword at first, but gave in when she begged. They thought it was ridiculous that a girl would want to fight. She didn't care. She was happier than she had ever been in her life. 


	2. Leaving Rivendell

Then next morning when Lavender walked into the hall, she felt the urge to sing. Very loudly. Anyone who knew Lavender would know that she cannot carry a tune at all. She earned the glares of many elves near her as she belted out, "ON TOP OF SPAGHETTI, ALL COVERED WITH CHEEEEEESE, I LOST MY POOR MEEEEEEEEEATBALL, WHEN SOM-" Pippin ran over and clapped his hand over her mouth. She pushed him away, demanding to know why a girl can't sing when she feels like it. "Shush!" He led Lavender around pillars and through Rivendell, being very quiet and careful. She wanted to ask why, but didn't feel like risking her life so early in the morning. She saw Merry standing behind a pillar some distance away. She and Pippin hid with him, and spied on what was apparently a top-secret meeting to decide who would go and destroy this ring. Lavender didn't understand at first. She thought the ring was pretty, and was just wondering if maybe Frodo, who owned the ring, would let her try it on when it hit her like a ton of bricks that, even if she wanted to wear the ring, she couldn't. She understood it all at once, and realized what a serious situation they were in. She saw Sam all of a sudden jump out of the bushes and run up to Frodo. Immediately, Merry, Pippin, and Lavender joined them. They were appointed to accompany Frodo on his quest to destroy the ring.  
  
There were ten of them in all. Frodo, Sam (who Lavender did not get along with at all), Merry, Pippin, and herself. There was also a ranger, Aragorn, future king of Gondor, or so he said. Lavender hated him and picked on him mostly, which nearly got her killed. Legolas, the elf, defended her. Lavender and Legolas were good friends, and he enjoyed spoiling her rotten. Gimli, the dwarf, and Boromir, a man, were also there. Plus Gandalf, a crazy old guy with a staff. Lavender stole it once and pulled some karate moves on Aragorn, which resulted in her almost being thrown over a cliff if Legolas hadn't snatched her out of Aragorn's clutches and carried her out of harm's way. Lavender made a face at Aragorn when Legolas wasn't looking.  
  
"Don't you feel.strange? You know, being the only girl here?" Pippin asked Lavender. It was late, and Merry, Pippin, and Lavender were sitting around the campfire. Everyone else was asleep. "No. I don't care." Lavender stared into the flames. Times like these made her think about what she'd left behind. Her parents, New York, pretty much a terrible life. The more she thought about it, the more she hated it. She stomped off to her sleeping bag.  
  
All white. "You'll be all right." the voice whispered, the same one as before. "You're fine." "Hey!" another voice interrupted. Lavender looked around for the source of the outburst. "Hey!" the voice repeated. "Gimme the microphone!" "No! It's mine!" the first voice said. "C'mon, lemme see it!" "No! I'm just doing my job! Scram! Go bother somebody else!" "It's as much my job as yours!" "Go away!" Two people popped up in front of Lavender, yelling at each other and trying to break the other's grip on a microphone. They suddenly became aware that Lavender was watching them, and dropped the microphone, which disappeared. One of them, obviously the one who had been telling me everything would be okay, cleared her throat. "I'm Rhia," she said. There was a pause for emphasis, and then, "I'm your guardian angel." Lavender laughed. "I thought guardian angels save you, right before you die, you know?" "Wrong!" the other angel yelled. "Our job is to give advice to you when you need it. We don't bother rescuing you from danger and stuff like that. It's too risky. We just show up in your dreams." "Oh." "I'm Tawny," she continued. "I am not your guardian angel. That's Rhia. Technically, I'm your guardian hobbit-angel." Tawny did resemble a hobbit, with curly brown hair, pointy ears, big feet, and she was no taller than me. Her flyaway brown, curly hair was in a ponytail. She and Rhia both had big white wings, like Lavender imagined a guardian angel (or hobbit-angel) would have, but Tawny wore jeans, a tye- dyed shirt, and a green vest. Rhia had brown hair and big brown eyes, and wore jeans and a T-shirt. Neither of them looked much like an angel. "You really weren't supposed to see us," Rhia said. "I guess it won't hurt that you see us, though. I mean, we are here to help you. But somebody tried to steal my microphone!" "Oh no, I didn't!" "You liar! You did too!" "Did not!" "Did too." The world faded around her. Blackness, once again. She woke with a start. Merry was shaking her, saying that they had to get going. 


	3. The Mountain and Moria

"Put me down!" Lavender twisted around, trying to get Aragorn to let her go. "I can walk by myself!" "The snow is over your head! How would we dig you back out?" "LET ME GO!" "Fine!" He dropped her. She plunged into the snow. She tried to stand up but slipped and fell. "Stupid mountain," she muttered, trying again and succeeding. She looked up. The snow was way over her head. She could see a space of sky far above her head. She jumped up, but her head didn't even come close to where the snow ended. She slipped again and fell. She didn't know where the rest of the group was. "LEGOLAS!" Lavender shrieked. She felt someone lift her up. The snow was gone. Legolas carried her to the front of the group, muttering something about how cruel Aragorn was. As we went past him, Aragorn gave Lavender an "I-told-you-so" look. Lavender frowned at him. Legolas stopped. "There is a fell voice on the air." "It's Saruman!" Gandalf yelled. "He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Lightning flashed, and a huge pile of snow fell on them all.  
  
"Did too!" "Did not!" "Did too." ".not.take microphone." The voices faded in and out.  
  
Legolas pulled Lavender out of the snow, for the second time that day. Aragorn, Frodo, and Sam came up, followed by Boromir, Merry, and Pippin. "Bill!" Sam shouted immediately. "Where's Bill?!" "That stupid pony," Lavender said. "He's right over there." Bill had not been touched by the falling avalanche. Sam looked relieved, then made a face at Lavender. "Don't call Bill stupid!" he cried. "Why not? He is," Lavender pointed out. "All he's done on this whole trip is eat, sleep, and walk! You won't let anyone ride him!" "He's not stupid!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "GUYS!" Boromir yelled. "Stop fighting! You sound like little kids!" "He started it!" Lavender yelled, louder than necessary, at the same time that Sam pointed an accusing finger at her and said, "She started it!" They glared at each other. "We must turn back," Aragorn said. "Let the ringbearer decide," Gandalf told him. "We will go through the mines of Moria," Frodo said.  
  
Lavender picked up a stick and drew a triangle on the ground while they all waited for Gandalf to open the stupid doors into Moria. "Whatcha doing?" Merry asked. "I dunno. Drawing, I guess." "Why?" "I'm trying to remember something I learned in math class," Lavender said. "Something like SOHCAHTOA. Yeah, I think that's it." "What's that?" Pippin asked, joining them. "It's math," she replied. She showed him the picture she had drawn of a triangle. "See, if this angle here is 90 degrees, and this other one is, say, 36 degrees, and you want to find the length of this side here. The hypotenuse is, say, ten feet long-" "That's definitely NOT ten feet long," Pippin interrupted. "Just pretend it's ten feet long. Now let me finish! Okay, what you do is take the sine of 36 degrees and divide that by ten, because ten is the length of the hypotenuse, and you get the length of this side here." Pippin and Merry both gave her blank looks. "Do either of you have a calculator or something?" she asked. More blank looks. She suggested that she show them something easier. "Okay," she said. "See this equation? It says that 20 = 0.5x. You take 0.5x and divide that by 0.5, and the 0.5's cancel each other out, and that leaves you with x. But you have to divide the other side by 0.5 too, see? So, 20 divided by 0.5 is 40. So, x is equal to 40. See?" They didn't see. Lavender gave up.  
  
"It's a riddle." Frodo stood up. "Gandalf, what's the Elvish word for friend?" Gandalf told him, and the doors opened wide. They all entered, Gimli babbling on and on about how great the mines would be and some royal welcome by his cousin. Lavender didn't think the mines were so great. They were freezing, dark, and creepy, and there was gross stuff all over the floor. "This is no mine," Boromir said. "It's a tomb." "Goblins!" Legolas cried, examining an arrow that had pierced what had apparently been a dwarf. Frodo screamed suddenly, as some tentacled thing grabbed his ankle and dragged him out the door. Lavender whipped out her sword and charged after him. Now, she didn't care a bit for Frodo. He didn't talk to anybody except Sam and Gandalf, which Lavender took for snobbishness. But she hadn't used her sword yet, and was dying to try it out. She began hacking away at the thing, while Aragorn and Boromir did the same. She could have sworn she heard Aragorn mutter, "Good Lord, why did we give her a sword?" but was too busy to respond. The thing dropped Frodo, and Boromir caught him. Legolas hit the thing in the face with an arrow. They all ran back into the mines and the thing pulled the doors down behind them. They had no choice but to go through the mines. 


	4. Gophers and Orcs

"What's that?" Pippin asked. It was late. It was very dark and cold, even darker and colder now that they were in the mines of Moria. Everyone was asleep, except for Lavender and Pippin. Lavender couldn't sleep. Someone was following them, she could feel it, and it was making her nervous. "What's what?" Lavender asked. "That!" Pippin pointed to Lavender's flashlight. She had been reading. "It's just a flashlight." "How does it work?" "You push the button," she said irritably. When she got nervous, she tended to snap at people. Lavender tried not to do that now, especially to one of her best friends. "Can I try it?" he asked. "Yeah, sure," she giggled. Pippin picked up the flashlight and stared directly into it. "Don't turn it on like that!" she said. He paused, then aimed it right at the sleeping Merry's face. He turned it on. Merry woke up right away, screaming, waking everyone else up as well. "PIPPIN!" he yelled. "I'M BLINDED! HELP!" Lavender buried her face in her pillow. She was in fits of laughter, but didn't want to hurt Merry's feelings. After what seemed like hours, after calming Merry down and convincing him that he wasn't blinded for life, after hiding her flashlight so that it would not be confiscated, after everyone had settled down, everyone finally began to drop back off to sleep.  
  
Rhia and Tawny were still fighting over whether or not Tawny had tried to steal the microphone. "Guys," Lavender said. "I am here, you realize?" They stopped. Rhia cleared her throat and said, "Sorry." "Sit down," Tawny said. A chair appeared in front of Lavender. She raised her eyebrow, but sat down. "GO FOR THE HOTT ONE!" Tawny shrieked immediately. Her eyebrow couldn't go any higher. "Uh." Lavender didn't know what to say. "You know.the really hott one.with the blond hair." Tawny stuttered, seeing that Lavender was not understanding her. "Merry and Pippin and Sam all have blond hair," she replied. "PIPPIN! YEAH! GO FOR PIPPIN!" Tawny's second outburst was louder and more startling than the first. "This is your advice?" "Well." Rhia stammered as the world faded away once again.  
  
Lavender woke with a start. A high-pitched screech filled her ears. It took a minute for her to realize that she was screaming. And a minute more to realize what she was screaming. "IT'S FOLLOWING US! IT WON'T GO AWAY! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" "Lavender!" Aragorn hissed. She shut right up, knowing from the look Aragorn was giving her that she wouldn't live much longer if she didn't. "Now every orc on Moria knows we're here! Good God, I should've thrown you over that cliff!" Aragorn complained. "We're gonna die because of you, Lavender!" Sam shouted. "The orcs will kill us!" "You shut up, too," Legolas warned. "Now go back to sleep." Sam started to protest. "But-" "NOW!" It wasn't like Legolas to yell at anybody. They figured they'd all better go back to sleep.  
  
"SHE'S NICE!" Lavender shrieked. "DON'T KILL HER!" "Lavender," Aragorn snarled. "It's a gopher. Might I add, a carnivorous one. NORMAL GOPHERS DON'T EAT MEAT! You can't keep it!" "Pineapple wouldn't hurt anybody!" Lavender began to cry. "Let her keep it," Legolas said, rushing over to comfort Lavender, who was now sobbing hysterically and would not be comforted. "That thing's name is Pineapple?" Sam asked. This time, he had gone too far! Lavender stopped crying and walked over to him. After glaring at him for a moment, she punched him in the nose and knocked him over. After making sure that Sam was bleeding, she ran to Legolas. "Don't let him hurt Pineapple!" she cried. Legolas looked from Lavender to Aragorn, whose sword was drawn and was ready to kill the rather cute gopher that had sort of showed up in the middle of the night and attached itself to Lavender. Lavender was so short that Pineapple was almost like a large cat to her. After a minute, Legolas picked up the gopher and handed it to Lavender. The look of terror on her face was replaced by a broad smile. When Legolas wasn't looking, she shot an evil grin at Aragorn, who knew as well as she that as long as Legolas was present, Lavender could have anything she wanted. Legolas thought she was the cutest thing ever, and LOVED to spoil her. "If that thing causes any trouble, I swear I'll kill it," he growled. Lavender didn't respond. She was busy rearranging her backpack so that Pineapple could ride comfortably. "Hold this," she said, thrusting a set of headphones at Aragorn (she'd recently discovered it in her backpack. It was definitely the same one she'd left in her apartment before she came to Middle Earth. No one bought her story that the headphones, along with an Eminem CD, had just kind of appeared in her backpack, even though it was true). Aragorn examined the thing she had given him. "What is this thing?" he asked. "Just a sec," Lavender said. She put her Sherlock Holmes book and flashlight in the front pouch, and settled Pineapple into the big pouch. Pineapple looked very cozy with her head poking out of the pack, observing everything that went on. "You're going to feed it, right?" Aragorn asked. "Ya! She's my gopher, isn't she?" "It eats meat!" "So I'll have Legolas shoot a mouse for her. Her!" Lavender added. "Gimme my headphones." She grabbed them from Aragorn. Placing them over her ears, she turned on the music and stuck the CD player in her pocket. The group got ready to leave. Everything went smoothly. For a while. "I'M SORRY MAMA!" a voice belted out from the back of the group a while later. "I NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU! I NEVER MEANT TO MAKE YOU CRY, BUT TONIGHT, I'M CLEANIN' OUT MY CLOSET!" "Dear God," Gandalf muttered to Aragorn. "If the orcs don't catch us and kill us first, this is going to be a VERY long trip through Moria." 


	5. Not a Lady

"Some royal welcome," Lavender whispered to Merry as everyone else crowded around a large concrete block which announced to the world that Gimli's cousin was dead. Gandalf picked up a dusty old book and began to read. Lavender didn't pay any attention at all, until she heard a crash behind her and saw a skeleton fall into a well, followed by a rusty chain and bucket. She knew by the guilty look on Pippin's face that he had knocked it in. Gandalf didn't help. "Fool of a Took!" he shouted. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" "Hey!" Lavender cried. "It was an accident. It's not his fault!" "Shut up!" Sam said, right before Lavender elbowed him in the stomach. Drumbeats sounded from deep in the mines. They grew faster and louder. As the doors to the little room were shut and locked, Boromir informed everyone that the orcs had a cave troll. Aragorn told Lavender to hide. "What! Why?" she demanded. "You'll get hurt," he responded. "No I won't!" "Just hide!" "No! I can fight! I want to fight!" Aragorn picked Lavender up and shoved her behind a pillar, warning her to say there. She heard the doors break open, and orcs screeching. It only took her a minute to yank out her sword, hide her backpack (and Pineapple), and join the battle. She heard Aragorn scream, and left her orc-slaying duties to see what had happened. He was waving his arms and shouting, "What are you doing?!" "Helping!" she yelled back, stabbing another orc. Just then, the cave troll entered. "HOLY S***!" Lavender shrieked. "WHAT THE F*** IS THAT THING!" Everyone stared at her. The cave troll chose that moment to stab Frodo with its spear. Merry, Pippin, and Lavender all jumped on the troll and stabbed its head (Lavender, once again, didn't care a bit about Frodo. She was in it for the fun). After a few minutes of vigorous stabbing, Merry and Lavender had been flung off and Pippin was hanging on for dear life. Legolas hit the thing in the neck with an arrow and it died, throwing Pippin to the floor as well. Everyone rushed over to Frodo. Sam was in tears. Frodo stood up and everyone went crazy. "I'm all right," Frodo gasped. "I'm not hurt." "Damn!" Lavender said, obviously disappointed. Frodo made a face at her, and she sent a rude hand gesture back. Aragorn grabbed her wrist and forced her hand back down. "We'll talk about this later," he hissed. Everyone ran out of the room and into the huge hall. Within seconds, they were surrounded by orcs. Lavender prepared to attack them when a loud roar sent them scurrying back to the depths of the mine from whence they came. The ten of them rushed down a set of old, crumbling stone steps until they reached a broken section. Legolas picked up Lavender and prepared to jump the gap, but Lavender struggled and hollered, "Put me down! I can jump by myself!" "You'll fall!" Legolas was horrified. "I'm not a baby!" she shrieked. "I can do stuff myself!" "Lavender, now isn't the time for this!" Aragorn snarled. "I'M NOT A BABY!" "Just let her go!" Boromir shouted. "We don't have time!" Legolas put Lavender down and jumped across the gap himself. Lavender jumped next, and Legolas caught her. Gandalf was next. Boromir tossed Sam, and then grabbed Merry and Pippin and jumped. Merry and Pippin immediately gathered around Lavender to make sure she was okay. They had become quite attached to her. Lavender, although she enjoyed the attention, busied herself with making sure that Pineapple, still snug in her backpack, was okay. Meanwhile, Gimli had attempted to jump across the ever-widening gap and nearly fallen. Legolas grabbed his beard and pulled him back, while he yelled his complaints about this. Another section of the stairs gave out, and Aragorn and Frodo barely made it to safety. The gap was now too wide for them to jump across. Lavender grinned evilly and turned to leave, but Merry grabbed her arm. "You can't leave!" he said. "Why not?" Lavender asked. But before Merry could say anything, a huge crash caused a bunch of rock to fall from the ceiling and smash through the stairs, creating a sort of island, with Frodo and Aragorn about to fall and die. Lavender didn't care much for either of them, but she didn't want to see them die. She stood, as tense as everyone else, while the island wobbled. "Lean forward!" she heard Aragorn shout. The island fell forward, and Frodo and Aragorn flew forward. They quickly ran down the rest of the stairs, Legolas stopped to fire an arrow now and then. They reached a bridge. Lavender was in front of the line, and when she stopped everyone crashed into her. "Oh no!" she yelled. "I'm not going over that!" "Go!" Sam yelled. "They're coming!" "NO WAY!" There were many shouts of protest from behind her. Lavender, who was terrified enough already, began to really freak out! Sam pushed her forward, and she threw herself back, shouting. Finally, Legolas made his way to the front of the group. "Lavender! What's wrong?" he asked. Lavender bit her lip to keep from crying. She whispered something that Legolas couldn't understand. "What?" "I'm afraid of heights," she repeated, a little louder. The bridge was only wide enough for one person at a time, and there were no railings whatsoever. If you went over the edge, you fell into a black abyss. Which was exactly what was terrifying Lavender. Legolas picked her up (this time she didn't protest) and ran across with her. Everyone else followed. Gandalf came last. He stopped in the middle of the bridge and turned. A loud roar filled their ears, and then they saw the Balrog. Gandalf slammed his staff onto the bridge and yelled, "You shall not pass!" The Balrog snorted and took a step forward, only to have the bridge crumble beneath him. He fell down into blackness. Gandalf turned to join the others, but the Balrog's whip wrapped around his ankle and pulled him back. He held on to what remained of the bridge only long enough to say, "Fly, you fools!" Then he, too, fell into blackness.  
  
Once they were outside, everyone sat on the rocks and cried, even Lavender, who hadn't liked Gandalf at all. She, Merry, and Pippin sat and cried together. Aragorn said that they had to get going, now! "Give them a moment, for pity's sake!" Boromir said. "By nightfall, these hills will be swarming with orcs!" So they set off. They would reach the woods of Lothlorien by nightfall, and hopefully reach the city itself the next day. They marched in silence. Merry and Pippin walked on either side of Lavender, but she didn't speak to either of them. She walked with her hands shoved deep in her pockets, listening to her music. The wind picked up, and she had to go and retrieve her hat (which she always wore backwards, and had only taken off to sleep since their departure from Rivendell) more than once. Tired of doing nothing but walking, Merry nudged Lavender, who turned off her music. "Yeah?" she asked. "I'm bored," he said. "Me too!" Pippin piped up. Lavender thought for a minute, then smiled. "I'll tell you a story, how's that?" she said. "Oh boy! A story!" Pippin cried excitedly. "Let's see.uh.once upon a time," she began. "Um.there was an evil hobbit named Samwise Gamgee." "Hey!" Sam yelled from ahead. "I heard that!"  
  
Lavender grinned evilly, seeing that she could get on Sam's nerves by telling this story. "Yeah," she continued. "And Samwise Gamgee was an evil hobbit! He.uh.he went around and robbed people's dinner tables!" "Oh no!" Pippin cried. "This is a scary story!" "And then one day someone caught him stealing their food, and Sam was tried and found guilty and had his head chopped off. Everyone else lived happily ever after." Merry and Pippin laughed, but Sam frowned. Lavender smiled at him innocently.  
  
Later on, Sam, still angry about Lavender's story, snuck up behind her and shoved her. She landed face-first in the dirt. She acted as if she didn't care, but she was actually quite angry at this. She began to plot her revenge.  
  
Lavender didn't fall asleep that night. She pretended to be asleep, and waited until she was sure that no one else was awake. It was cold, and Aragorn had built a fire. It was still smoldering. Perfect! She carefully picked up a burning branch and slowly walked over to where Sam was sleeping, not making any noise. She held the branch to the end of his sleeping bag, near his feet. She made sure that it was ignited, and then quickly put the branch back in the fire and crawled into her own sleeping bag. A few minutes later, she heard Sam scream. She sat up, amused at the scene. Sam was fine, but his sleeping bag wasn't. He was jumping up and down and yelling while his sleeping bag burned. He shot a glare at Lavender. Everyone knew it was her. Only Sam and Aragorn did not find this funny.  
  
The next day didn't hold much excitement. In punishment for trying to burn Sam up, Lavender had to walk at the back of the group. It wasn't much of a punishment. Merry, Pippin, and Legolas walked with her. They walked in silence for a while, and then Legolas spoke up. "It's not that I don't like you, Lavender, because I do, it's just that." "Just what?" "Well, you're." "Spit it out!" she said. "You're not very ladylike!" he blurted. Lavender raised her eyebrow. "I think he's trying to say that you need to act more like a lady," Merry whispered. Lavender nodded. "Yeah, that's it!" Legolas said, regaining some confidence. "You need to act like a lady." Lavender didn't say anything, just raised her eyebrow higher. "Let's start now," Legolas suggested. "We can teach you how!" "No," Lavender said. "I know how. I just don't want to." "You need to," Sam said, who had joined them. "Yes, you do," Frodo said. "For starters, ladies don't fight. They don't swear, they wear dresses, they don't swear, they're quiet and refined, and they don't swear." "Shut the hell up," Lavender told him. "I'll swear if I damn well want to. And I hate dresses and makeup and all that crap." "Well, you shouldn't," Sam put in. "You're a lady, after all." "And you should act like it," Frodo added. Merry put his arm around Lavender, as if to protect her. Lavender just glared at Frodo and Sam. "And if I was a lady," she said slowly, "then what would be the purpose of me accompanying you?" "Uh.well." No one could really find an answer, until Sam shouted, "To organize everything and cook our meals and take care of us if we're hurt or sick." "Yes!" Frodo agreed. "Exactly." "Well, forget it!" Lavender pushed Merry's arm away and stomped off. Pippin and Merry followed. Sam sighed and said, "What good is a girl anyway, if she won't do what she's supposed to do?" "Oh, you never know," Gimli said, joining them. "She may be useful after all." "But Lavender doesn't even act like a girl!" Sam cried. "Girls don't swordfight! And she swears all the time! And she never wears dresses like girls are supposed to." "You've made that clear," Legolas said. "But Lavender isn't your average girl, either. Maybe Gimli has a point." They could faintly hear singing from the front of the group. "Let's get down to business! I don't got no time to play around, what is this.?" 


	6. Still Not a Lady and Lothlorien

"I had them first!" Tawny yelled trying to yank a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's out of Rhia's grip. "You did not!" Rhia shouted, tugging back. "I got them from the vending machine!" Tawny cried. "You liar! You took them off my desk!" "I did not!" "Yes you did!" "Guys, they're M&M's!" Lavender interrupted. "Why can't you just share them or something?" There was silence as Rhia and Tawny glared at each other. Rhia opened the bag of M&M's and handed two to Tawny. "Happy?" she asked sarcastically. "No!" Tawny responded. "You can't have them all!" "I'm NOT having them all," Rhia snapped. "I gave you some." "YOU GAVE ME TWO!" Tawny tried to take the bag back, but Rhia held her off. Lavender rolled her eyes as the scene faded, and she woke to see Merry staring at her.  
  
"Yeah?" she muttered. She was very tired. It was too early to be awake. Merry didn't say anything, just stared at her. She blushed and thought, 'My hair must be a mess. It's always messy in the morning. I'll bet it's standing on end. I'll bet he's amazed at how messy it is. This is so embarrassing!' She yawned and stretched. Pineapple raced over to her, seeing that she was awake. Lavender smiled and patted the gopher on the head. "You must be hungry," she said aloud to Pineapple. "I sure am," Pippin said, coming up behind her. "Ladies are supposed to cook breakfast. Where's mine?" Lavender frowned and said, "I'm officially a lady now, am I?" "Yep," he said, sitting down next to her. Lavender frowned harder. "Well, just this once," she said. "What do you want to eat?" Pippin began making a very long list of what he wanted. Lavender stopped him. "I'll cook eggs," she said. Pippin smiled. Lavender went off to get some firewood. She hauled it into the clearing and began making a fire. Sam was still asleep, and Lavender doubted he'd let her use one of his pans anyway, so she just stole one. By the time she'd cooked Pippin his breakfast, everyone else was awake. They all wanted food, and they wanted Lavender to cook it. She grumbled to herself as she went to search for more firewood. Sam saw her carrying the firewood and rushed over. "Here, let me carry it," he offered. Lavender looked at him suspiciously. "It's too heavy for you," he said. "I'm fine." "No, that wood's really heavy." "I'm managing just fine, thank you very much." "You'll drop it," he insisted. Lavender's frown deepened as she told him, "No, I won't drop it. I can carry it just fine. I'm strong enough." "Ladies don't get themselves dirty carrying wood around," Sam said. "Oh, that's what this is about!" Lavender was mad enough to kill Sam already. "Let me simplify it for you, then. NO!" Sam scurried off, leaving Lavender to carry the wood by herself. She was satisfied. Somewhat. She wasn't happy about being made to cook everyone's breakfast, but she was satisfied at chasing Sam off, anyway. She started cooking. Pippin came back for seconds. Lavender liked Pippin and made sure that his eggs were done perfectly. The same with Merry. But she purposely burnt everyone else's food. It was quite satisfying to see the looks on their faces. Merry stared at Lavender the whole time. She could feel herself blushing, but tried to pretend that nothing was happening.  
  
"Stay close now," Gimli warned as they walked through the forest. "They say a witch lives in this forest." "Oh, bah," Lavender said. "That's just talk." "Well, here's one dwarf she won't ensnare so easily. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox," Gimli said, right before an arrow was aimed at his face. "The dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark," Haldir, the head elf, said. Aragorn stepped forward and said something to Haldir in Elvish, while Merry moved closer to Lavender and held her hand, all the while glaring at the Elves who had their arrows aimed at them. Haldir said something in Elvish back to Aragorn, then turned and walked away. Aragorn followed, and so did the rest of the group.  
  
They soon entered an elf-city. It was beautiful! She felt Merry's grip tighten a bit on her hand, and knew that her face must be quite red. "Wow," she heard Pippin whisper. "This is gorgeous." "It's Lothlorien," Legolas told him. "Do they have food here?" Pippin asked. They all laughed. "Is your stomach all that you think about?" Legolas asked. "No," Pippin told him. "Sometimes I think about what my life would be like if I were a potato."  
  
Lavender, Merry, and Pippin sat next to each other, leaning back against a rock. Merry's arm was draped around Lavender's shoulders. Lavender took out her headphones. Pippin stared at them. "What's that?" he asked. Lavender laughed. "My headphones," she said. "You want to try them?" Pippin looked ecstatic. "I'll stay out of this one," Merry interrupted. "Last time he tried something of yours, I wound up nearly blind." He got up and walked away. Lavender jumped up and ran after him, pausing long enough to tell Pippin not to play with her headphones until she got back. "Merry!" she called, chasing after him. "Don't leave." He stopped, turned around, and stared at her. She caught up with him, but tripped and nearly fell on her face. He caught her in time. "Thanks," she said, brushing herself off. He smiled, but it quickly faded. "What's wrong?" she asked. He bit his lip, searching for words. "You don't have to be ladylike if you don't want to," he said finally. "Just because you're a girl doesn't mean everyone can push you around." "They aren't pushing me around," Lavender said. "It's just too bad for them if they don't like me the way I am. I won't do anything if I don't want to." Merry smiled. "You're really independent." "I've always been that way." She smiled back. "Because I still like you, even if you aren't ladylike," he said. "I'm not," she warned him. "You just might change your mind about liking me." "Never. I won't ever change my mind." Merry's face came very close to hers, but Sam walked over at that moment. "Hey, Lavender!" he hollered. "Aragorn wants you." Lavender sighed and walked away, making sure to kick Sam in the shin before she left.  
  
"What do you want?" Lavender asked irritably, approaching Aragorn. He frowned and pointed to his ankle. Pineapple had sunk her teeth into his leg, and was obviously not about to let go. "I told you to feed her!" Lavender shouted. "She's really hungry!" "I don't take orders," he snapped moodily. "Neither do I," she shot back. She knelt down beside Pineapple and gently pried her teeth free of Aragorn's ankle. He began to bleed. "Help! Help!" he cried. "I'm bleeding!" "Hold still, you baby," Lavender snapped, grabbing a rag out of someone's backpack, not bothering to check whose. She tied the cloth tightly around his ankle and stood up. "Don't walk on that for a little while," she said. "Let the bleeding stop first. Don't take the rag off until I say so, and there'll be a scab there soon. DON'T pick it!" He made a face at her, but sat down, muttering something about her being too bossy. Lavender ignored him and went off to find Merry. She found him soon enough. He had made his way back to Pippin, and they were now sitting next to each other and examining Lavender's headphones. She was pleased to see that Pippin had obeyed her orders not to play with it. She approached them, and Merry scooted over so she could sit next to him. She did, and he put his arm around her. Lavender leaned back against him and held out her hand for her headphones. Pippin handed them to her. "Put these over your ears," she instructed. Pippin did so. She turned on the music. After a few minutes of listening, he made a face. "You call that MUSIC?" Lavender laughed. "Yeah," she told him. "This is good music. Everybody listens to this!" "Not me," Pippin informed her, handing back the headphones. "It's too loud and there's no rhythm, just a guy saying 'White America' over and over again." "What's an America?" Merry asked. "It's where I used to live," Lavender explained. "Was it nice there?" Pippin asked. Lavender sighed, and Merry pulled her a little closer. "It was all right, I guess," she responded. "You guess?" Pippin was obviously confused. "People there have advantages over people living in different countries, but it all depends on your own personal experiences," she said. "For most people, America is really nice. But I suppose that's not the case for me." "It wasn't nice for you?" Merry asked, sounding concerned. Lavender did her best to hold back tears as she shook her head no. "Why not? What happened?" Pippin wanted to know. Lavender inhaled sharply, wanting and not wanting to talk about it. Merry sensed that something was wrong, even though she hid her face. "Shut up, Pippin!" he hissed. "No, it's okay," Lavender told him, and began to explain. "My parents fought all the time, and I used to live in the middle of a huge city. The streets were dirty and the air was polluted and you couldn't go out after dark because there were too many gangs. And my sister-" She stopped talking as tears began to slide down her face. "My sister had leukemia." "Leukemia?" "It's a disease. It killed her. She was only five." Lavender buried her face in Merry's shirt and cried harder. She cried for a long time, but she suddenly felt relieved. She hadn't talked to anyone about her sister since she had died two years ago. It felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Suddenly, she felt exhausted. She fell asleep, still leaning against Merry.  
  
When she woke up, the sun was no longer shining. The moon was up, and the stars could be seen twinkling between the tangled branches of the trees. The forest was lit with an eerie glow. She would have been frightened if it hadn't been for the fact that Merry was still there, with his arm wrapped around her waist, fast asleep. His blond curls fell into his face. Lavender sighed and nudged him. He sat up, blinking sleepily. "What time is it?" he mumbled. "It's late," Lavender told him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep." "It's okay," he said, stretching. "I was tired anyway. I fell asleep just a little while after you did." "Well, we should probably go and find everyone else." "They're probably asleep by now." "Well, let's find where they're sleeping." It didn't take them long to find the others. They just followed the sound of Sam's snores. They quietly pulled out their sleeping bags and set them up near Pippin. "Good night, Merry." "Good night, Lavender." 


	7. Urukhai!

They left Lothlorien the next day. Everyone received an Elven cloak, along with a gift (if you've read the book, you know what they get). The gift that Lavender was given was a dress. It was pale lavender in color, with long sleeves. Lavender was disgusted, but didn't let it show. She wished that she had a book of matches to rid herself of the dress in a more efficient way, but unfortunately, she didn't. She settled for stuffing it deep into her backpack among her other clothes. Pineapple soon tired of riding in the backpack, so Lavender let her out to wander as she pleased. As soon as she was free, Pineapple made a beeline for Aragorn and once again sunk her teeth into his ankle. He screamed and began jumping up and down, while Lavender did her best to suppress her laughter. When Pineapple finally decided to let go, Lavender retrieved another rag and re-bandaged his ankle. Once they were moving again, Lavender tugged at Legolas's sleeve. "Pineapple's hungry," she said. "What do gophers eat?" Legolas asked. Lavender shrugged and said, "I dunno, but this one eats meat. Can you get something for her to eat?" "Like what?" Legolas asked. "I don't think she cares. Probably something small, like a mouse or something." "Good gracious, Lavender! I can't shoot a MOUSE!" "Why not?" "It's too small!" "Well, I don't care! Shoot something else, then!" Legolas shot a rabbit, and Pineapple ate it hungrily. She then allowed herself to be settled back into Lavender's backpack. "Thank goodness," Aragorn muttered. "That thing would've attacked my ankles again."  
  
They were in canoes, rowing down a wide river. They approached two huge stone statues. Lavender thought that they were a bit frightening. She moved a bit closer to Merry, who was sitting behind her in the canoe, as they passed the statues. Lavender, who Aragorn would not allow to have a paddle, watched as the statues got smaller and smaller as they got farther away. She sighed and turned back around. She was very bored. She looked over the edge of the canoe and watched as little fish darted around beneath the surface of the water. She dipped her fingers in the water, sighed again, and rested her chin in her hands. Hours later, they finally went to shore. Lavender jumped out of the canoe immediately. She quickly helped them unload the canoes, then asked, "Anyone up for football?" "Football?" Pippin asked. "How do you play?" "It's easy," she said. "I'll teach you, but we need more than two players." "I'll play," Merry put in. "Me too," Legolas added. Lavender explained the game to them, and soon they had a pretty good game going. Well, pretty good for each team having only two players. Merry and Lavender vs. Pippin and Legolas. There was just one small problem. They didn't have a football. Instead, they used a large rock they found, which Lavender claimed was about the right size. Surprisingly, none of the players were hurt by the rock being thrown around. Unsurprisingly, someone else was hurt. That someone happened to be Sam. He watched the game for a while, mostly because he wanted to see Lavender get hurt. Unfortunately, he failed to move when the "football" came in his direction, and it landed directly on his foot. "Hold still!" Lavender yelled at Sam, rushing over to help. "Sit down and hold still!" Sam sat down, clenching his teeth from the pain in his foot. Lavender examined his foot. "I don't think it's broken," she said. "Can I trust you not to kick me?" He nodded. She touched his foot lightly and asked if it hurt. He shook his head no. "Can you wiggle your toes?" she asked him. "Oh, that's fun!" Pippin cried excitedly, wiggling his own toes. Lavender rolled her eyes and turned back to Sam. He wiggled his toes, but winced with the pain. "Yep," Lavender said. "It's not broken, but you'll have a heck of a bruise there. We don't have any ice, do we? No, I didn't think so. Probably the best thing to do, then, is to go and stick your foot in the river. That'll probably be cold enough. It'll keep the swelling down. And don't walk on that foot for a while. Let me look at it before you decide to put any weight on it. Pippin, you help Sam. I'll tell Aragorn what happened."  
  
Aragorn was quite upset when he heard about what had happened. "That means we can't go anywhere until Sam can walk again!" he raved. "Thanks, Lavender. You've put us back another day at least!" "Hey!" Merry cried. "It's not Lavender's fault! Pippin threw the rock!" Pippin looked horrified. "Legolas didn't catch the rock! That's why it hit Sam!" "What!" Legolas yelled. "I was behind you when you threw it!" "Quit it!" Lavender shouted. "It's not anybody's fault! It was an accident." Aragorn groaned, but he knew there was nothing he could do. "So we're stuck here until Sam can walk again?" he moaned. "If he's not walking on his foot by tomorrow, you can throw me in the river," Lavender promised. Aragorn brightened considerably.  
  
Lavender tended to Sam for the rest of the day. She hated to admit it, but she was starting to like the hobbit. He was grateful that she was healing his foot, and realized that maybe Lavender wasn't as horrible as he had thought previously. He didn't boss her around, and was actually pleasant to her. Merry, of course, was by Lavender's side the whole time. "Here, keep your foot up," Lavender said, making him sit down and rest his foot on a rock. She handed Merry a rag, with instructions to get it wet in the river. While Merry was doing that, Lavender looked at Sam's foot. "Yeah, there's a bruise all right." She sighed. "You're lucky it's not broken." Merry returned with the rag. Lavender tested it to make sure it was cold enough, and then carefully wrapped it around his foot, explaining that the coldness makes the swelling go down. Legolas and Gimli watched this scene from the woods. "Well, what do you know?" Legolas exclaimed. "Sam and Lavender are getting along." "Lavender has much knowledge in healing," Gimli commented. "My mom was a nurse!" Lavender yelled, startling them. Legolas and Gimli had thought that none of them had noticed their presence. They walked away. "Didn't I tell you that Lavender would be useful to us?" Gimli asked. "I was right! She's a healer. I knew she'd come in handy." "Don't talk about Lavender like she's an object," Legolas grouched. "But yes, she is a skilled healer. I believe you were right."  
  
Lavender, too, was right. Sam was up and walking by the next day. He could not walk very fast, but he could walk. Aragorn, though happy that they could get moving again, was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to throw Lavender into the river. "It wouldn't have done any good," Lavender explained calmly. "I'm an excellent swimmer." "Where's Frodo?" Merry asked. "Where's Boromir?" Pippin added. They looked around for them, but didn't see them anywhere. "We'll split up," Aragorn suggested. "Legolas, you and Gimli search that way, I'll go this way. Merry and Pippin, you search over there. Sam, cover the area in that direction." "Where do I go?" Lavender asked. "Stay here," Aragorn said, irritated. "Why?!" "The Uruk-hai are coming! You'll get hurt." "You said that last time and I didn't!" "You can't come!" "What if someone gets hurt? I don't know of any other healers in this area." He couldn't come up with an argument against this, so he let Lavender go with Merry and Pippin. They went out in search of Boromir and Frodo, Pineapple emitting a little squeak of fright every once in a while. They heard the Uruk-hai coming closer and hid behind a bush. It was then that they saw Frodo hiding behind a nearby tree. "Frodo! Hide here, quick!" Pippin called. Frodo shook his head no. Lavender looked at Merry in confusion. "What's he doing?" Pippin asked. "He's leaving," Merry realized. The three hobbits jumped out of their hiding place and started to run over to Frodo, but stopped when they heard the Uruk-hai. "Go, Frodo," Merry whispered. He then began jumping up and down and waving his arms and yelling. The Uruk-hai saw him and changed direction. Lavender and Pippin soon caught on to what he was doing. They began yelling as well, and when they saw that the Uruk-hai were coming after them, they ran the other way, drawing them away from Frodo. "It's working!" Pippin yelled. "I know it's working! Run!" Merry shouted back. Lavender screamed and stopped running, seeing Uruk-hai approaching them from the other direction. They were trapped! Boromir appeared at that moment out of nowhere, striking down Uruks, defending the hobbits. Lavender saw out of the corner of her eye an exceptionally large Uruk, with a bow. He drew back the bowstring. Lavender gasped when she realized he was going to kill Boromir! Just as the Uruk let the arrow fly, Lavender threw herself at Boromir and knocked him to the ground. The arrow missed them by inches. "Thank you, Lavender," Boromir gasped. Lavender was about to reply when she felt someone, or rather something, lift her up. Completely ignoring Boromir, the Uruk-hai grabbed the three hobbits and carried them away. 


	8. Death of the Uruks

Lavender looked at Merry with worry for probably the hundredth time. They were with the Uruk-hai. They were bound at the wrists, and they were riding on the Uruks' backs with their arms slung over the Uruks' heads. Lavender was not hurt at all, save for maybe a bruise or two. Pippin had a few scrapes, but nothing serious. Merry was in the worst condition. He had been hit pretty hard on the head. There was a bloody lump on this forehead, and he was unconscious. Lavender wanted to help him, but couldn't. She sighed, very bored. She kicked the Uruk she was riding on. "Hey!" she yelled. "Put me down for a minute." It ignored her. She kicked it harder. "Just let me get my headphones!" It still ignored her. She kicked it even harder. When it still didn't respond, she began to kick it repeatedly, as hard as she could manage. The Uruk shrieked and stopped running. It called to several other Uruks nearby, and they formed a small circle around Lavender's Uruk. It threw Lavender to the ground said snarled, "Fine. Get what you need." It untied her hands and moved into the circle. Lavender had no intentions of leaving Merry and Pippin, so she was a bit confused as to why the Uruks had made a circle around her so that she could not escape. But she shrugged it off as she dug into her backpack and got out her music. She put on the headphones and turned it on. The Uruk then rebound her and lifted her onto its back again, and rejoined the group.  
  
A while later, the Uruk was very sorry that he had let Lavender get her music. She was singing along with the music VERY loudly. Worse yet, Pippin had caught onto the chorus part of each song, and also sang along. They made quite a racket. It was a wonder it didn't wake Merry up. Finally, the head Uruk stopped the group and shouted, "I can't take it any more! I don't care what Saruman says! Just leave them here! I'm getting a headache!" With that, the Uruks dumped Merry, Pippin, and Lavender on the ground and rushed away as quickly as possible. "That was easy," Lavender said, and turned to Merry. He groaned a little, but didn't wake up. Lavender frowned. "We'd better get out of here before those things change their minds and come back for us," she said. "We can't leave Merry here," Pippin pointed out. Lavender didn't say anything. She sat and thought about it. The more she thought, the more frustrated she became. She switched off her music and put it in her backpack. Pineapple gave a little squeak. Lavender picked a few blades of grass and held them up to Pineapple's mouth. "I don't have anything else," she said. "This'll have to do for now." Pineapple looked aggravated, but ate the grass. Lavender patted Pineapple, then slung her backpack over her shoulder and stood up. She surveyed the land around her, and finally spotted a large rock. She pointed and said, "Let's at least hide there." She seized Merry under the arms and started to drag him toward the rock. Pippin came and helped her. They finally got Merry around to the rock in a spot where the Uruks wouldn't see them if they came back. Lavender handed a rag to Pippin and asked if he could get it wet in the little stream that ran nearby. Pippin rushed off, while Lavender sighed and leaned back against the rock. Pippin returned momentarily. Lavender gently wiped the blood away from Merry's wound. He flinched a bit at the touch, but was still unconscious. "There's not a lot we can do until he wakes up," Lavender told Pippin. "And I don't know how long that will be." "We'll just have to wait, huh?" Pippin sat down next to Lavender. She nodded. "Where will we go once he wakes up?" "I don't know. I guess we'll try to find Aragorn." "What about Frodo?" Pippin asked worriedly. "He'll be okay," Lavender assured him. "But he's all by himself." "I know. But I'm sure he'll be fine." Lavender yawned, suddenly very tired. It was getting dark. But she refused to fall asleep. Not until she was sure that Merry was okay. She glanced over at him. He stirred a little. She took his hand in hers. She heard a soft snore beside her, and discovered that Pippin was fast asleep, curled tightly into a ball. She smiled a little. She could barely keep her eyes open. Against her will, she began to drift into sleep.  
  
She woke with a start. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. She quickly turned to see if Merry was okay. She smiled with relief when she was that some of the color had returned to his face. He was no longer pale. This showed that he was no longer unconscious, just sleeping. Lavender sighed and scooted a bit closer to him. She looked up at the moon, shining down on them. It was a full moon, and it was so bright that it might have been daytime. She settled down and went back to sleep, now assured that Merry was okay.  
  
Lavender felt someone nudge her. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Merry was shaking her. She was awake instantly. He looked very surprised as she pulled him into a tight hug. Lavender held back tears as she whispered, "I was really worried about you." He hugged her back. "I'm okay." She pulled back and touched his forehead lightly where he had been hit. He had started bleeding again. He winced a little. "Does it still hurt?" she asked. "Not much." She knew he was lying. She grabbed the rag and took his hand. She led him to the stream and dipped the rag in the water, and gently wiped away the blood. "You've got a pretty good bump there," she said. "It's not too bad," he assured her. She hugged him in reply. "Guys!" Pippin yelled, running over to them and yanking on Lavender's sleeve. "Guys! Come and see what I found!" He began to run, with Lavender and Merry following. They reached a huge pile of ashes. Lavender took one look at the Uruk head skewered on a stake and just about vomited. Luckily she didn't. She turned to the ashes. "What's this?" she asked. "Take a guess," Pippin told her. "Who killed them?" Lavender asked, referring to the fact that the ashes were actually burnt Uruk bodies. "Look!" Merry cried. In the distance, they could see people approaching on horseback. Not knowing what to do, they didn't move, but Merry put his arm protectively around Lavender. Looking closely at the riders, Lavender suddenly cried, "It's Legolas! And Aragorn!" The riders halted and dismounted. The three hobbits screamed with excitement and ran to their friends. "Legolas!" Lavender shouted. "Legolas, someone killed the Uruks!" "Aragorn! How did you find us?" Merry cried. "I'm so glad to see you guys!" Pippin yelled. Legolas hugged Lavender and ruffled Merry's and Pippin's hair. Boromir smiled, and Gimli said, "We're just glad you're alive!" "We thought the Uruks killed you!" Legolas added. "Nope! Lavender saved us," Merry stated proudly. Lavender blushed and muttered, "Well, I kinda helped out a little bit, I guess." "She kicked them and turned on her music and sang along really loud!" Pippin shouted in Gimli's ear, who happened to be standing right next to him. "Was that really necessary?" Gimli wanted to know. "YES!" Pippin shrieked. Lavender stared beyond Pippin, at someone who was approaching rapidly on horseback. Merry noticed, too. "Who's that?" he asked. Aragorn turned and saw the person. He squinted to see. Suddenly, his eyes got wide in horror. "The white wizard!" he cried. Everyone began to panic. Lavender grabbed her sword at once, and Merry stood protectively in front of her, with his sword drawn as well. Pippin grabbed a big stick instead of his sword. Aragorn and Boromir drew their swords as well. Gimli grabbed his axe, and Legolas fitted an arrow into his bow. "Kill him before he has the chance to kill us," Aragorn whispered. The rider drew closer, but they could not see his face. A white light surrounded him. They prepared to attack him, but suddenly their weapons were hot, like a red-hot iron! Legolas's arrow was diverted in another direction. 


	9. Arrival in Rohan

~Hey everybody, thanks for the reviews! Just a reminder, please don't take my stuff without my permission. This is for Butterfly: yes, you can use my story at your website. Thanks, you guys!~  
  
The light faded to reveal.Gandalf. "Gandalf!" Legolas cried, with tears of joy in his eyes. "Gandalf!" Merry and Pippin shrieked, running up and hugging him. "Gandalf!" Aragorn, Boromir, and Gimli shouted in unison. "Gandalf?!" Lavender yelled. "What's HE doing here?! I thought he fell down the hole!" "For your information, Lavender, I fought the beast and won. I'll explain later," Gandalf said. "But I will tell you that your disappointment at seeing me quite matches my disappointment at seeing you again." Lavender made a face at him while Aragorn calmly explained to Gandalf that Lavender was now an important healer and it was best not to upset her, however difficult that may be. Lavender and Aragorn still were not getting along very well. Lavender suddenly noticed something. "WHERE'S SAM?!" She screamed as loud as she could. Aragorn shot her a chilling glare and said, "Sam went with Frodo." "But his foot isn't better yet!" Lavender protested. "He'll make it worse!" "His foot was fine when he left," Aragorn snarled. Lavender crossed her arms and gave Aragorn a glare to match his. This quickly turned into a staring contest. Aragorn gave up after a few minutes while Lavender glared on in triumph. Legolas, in an attempt to kill the fight (that was bound to erupt) before it began, picked up Lavender and Merry and helped them onto his horse. Lavender kept her gaze steady on Aragorn, who was beginning to grow uncomfortable under her glare. Boromir, taking Legolas's hint, said, "Well, uh, maybe we'd better leave." "Yes!" Gimli agreed quickly. "We probably should." Lavender did not move, did not stir a bit. Aragorn's face turned red from anger. He started to walk over to Lavender, but Lavender, still not looking away, quickly drew her sword. He stopped. "What do you WANT from me?!" he shrieked. Lavender said, without changing her expression whatsoever, "Do you give up?" "FINE! I give up! You win!" He stormed off, while Lavender's face changed in an instant from a chilling glare to a radiant smile and sheathed her sword. It was very difficult to believe that she was evil. "Let's go, Legolas," she commended, then stopped. "Where are we going?" There was a loud snort from Aragorn. Everyone looked at him. "We're going to Rohan," He announced. "What for?" Lavender wanted to know. Aragorn explained that riders from Rohan had killed the Uruks and given them two extra horses, and they were going to Rohan to speak with the king. Lavender jumped off of Legolas's horse to examine the new horses. One of them, Legolas was riding. Lavender didn't take much interest, except to feed it some grass. The other horse, she immediately fell in love with. The horse seemed to have bonded itself to Lavender anyway. It was a soft brown color, with big eyes that seemed to take in and question everything surrounding it. Exactly like Lavender, Aragorn thought grumpily. She notices everything and never stops talking or asking stupid questions. "What's the horse's name?" Lavender wanted to know. No one answered, just kind of shrugged. Lavender began to panic, and cried, "She has to have a name! Whose horse is she?" Still no one answered. The new horses didn't have definite owners. They'd been given to them by the riders of Rohan only recently. "Well, she's mine now, then," Lavender announced. Aragorn's eyes grew wide with fright. "No!" he stated. "No more pets!" "But she doesn't belong to anyone!" "I don't care! You have a gopher already! You don't need a new pet!" Pineapple gave an indignant squeak, but Lavender looked up at him with eyes so innocent and pleading that he finally gave in. She smiled and immediately mounted the horse, with help.  
  
"Aurora Borealis? Why would you name a horse Aurora Borealis?" Merry asked in confusion, mounted on the horse behind Lavender. They were on their way to Rohan. Gandalf rode his horse, Shadowfax, alone, while Pippin rode with Legolas. Aragorn, Gimli, and Boromir were forced to walk to Rohan. They were expected to arrive some time after the others did. Lavender couldn't have cared less, for Aragorn anyway. She didn't like Gimli too much, and Boromir was very kind. But Aragorn could drop dead right then for all she cared. But she was far away from him now, and she smiled with content. "The Northern lights," Lavender explained. "I saw them once. They were so awesome!" "Oh." "Gandalf!" Lavender shrieked to the rider next to her. "When will we be there?!" "Shut up! We'll be there later!" "WHEN IS LATER?!" She received no response, so she concentrated on trying to race Legolas (who was actually unaware that he was even racing) to a nearby rock. Legolas won, even though he didn't know it, and Lavender cursed. Everyone glared at her. She glared back. Ever since they had tried to give her lessons to be ladylike, she had become even more tomboyish and irritating. Everyone believed that she was doing it simply because she hated being told what to do. That was half-true. Lavender was tomboyish by personality, it wasn't an act, but she DID hate to be told what to do, in which case she usually went and did the opposite of what she had been told.  
  
The ride to Rohan was very long and quite uneventful, unless you count that Lavender and Merry held loud, shouting conversations with Pippin, on Legolas's horse, the whole way. Eventually, Gandalf had to ride between Legolas's horse and Aurora Borealis. This did no good, as Merry, Pippin, and Lavender only screamed louder to be heard. Soon after, everyone simply gave up any attempts to make the hobbits be quiet. The shouting continued all the way to Rohan, much to everyone's displeasure. Even Legolas got a bit irritated with them. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally arrived in Rohan. 


	10. Helm's Deep

~I'd like to thank my friend Laura for reviewing my story! I'd also like to thank Candice for giving me lots of compliments, even if she can't review! Thanx a lot, u guys! I hope the rest of u r enjoying the story!~ P.S.- I know Tawny and Rhia haven't been present in the last few chapters. Don't worry, I bring them back in this one!  
  
"I don't believe it!" Tawny shrieked. Lavender stared at her in confusion. "It could be PIPPIN!" Tawny continued. "But NO! It has to be MERRY, doesn't it? I don't believe it!" "Wait a minute," Lavender stated indignantly. "What gives you the idea that I like Merry more than I like Pippin? They're BOTH really cool guys." "No. You don't get it!" Tawny cried. "Why don't you take our advice for once? That's what we're here for, you know." Lavender frowned and snapped, "The only advice you gave me was to 'go for the hott one.' It's not really advice." "Yes it is!" "Why is it even your problem?" "You like Merry and you won't admit it! THAT'S what's my problem!" "I do not! And it's not!" "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Rhia screamed. "Once Tawny and I FINALLY stop fighting, you two start!"  
  
"Whatcha readin'?" Pippin asked. He, Merry, and Lavender were sitting on the ground, bored out of their minds, while Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, and Boromir were inside the huge stone building, apparently talking some sense into the king. Lavender didn't buy any of it. She decided that, since they had all completely refused to let her come with them, they were just trying to get away from her. "I'm reading a book on forensic science," Lavender muttered, completely engrossed in her book. Pippin looked quite confused. Not that Lavender noticed. She was busy reading. "What's franenstic science?" he asked. "Forensic science," Lavender corrected, putting her book down. "It's like, say you got murdered tomorrow-" "I'm gonna die?!" he cried. "Save me!" "No," Lavender laughed. "Just PRETEND." "Oh. Okay." Pippin flopped over and pretended to die a horrific death, with lots of wheezing and coughing and gagging and screaming. Lavender was in fits of laughter. Pippin sat up. "What now?" he asked. "Okay, forensic science is like, if there's a crime committed, how you use DNA samples and fingerprints and stuff like that to solve it." "Solve what?" "The crime." "What crime?" "The crime that's been committed." Lavender was getting a bit exasperated at this point. "Was a crime committed?" "Forget it!" Lavender threw her arms in the air and picked up her book again, the book that had sort of just appeared in her backpack, like her headphones and CD. It was strange, but whenever she wanted something that she had left in New York, it seemed to just pop up in her backpack. "Fingerprints?" Merry asked in confusion. "Every person, or hobbit, or whatever, has a special pattern of lines on their fingers," Lavender explained. "Yeah, I know that," Merry said. "But how does that help you solve a crime?" Lavender proceeded to explain. Merry listened, fascinated, as she explained to him how exactly fingerprints and DNA can come in handy. "Wow," he said when she finished. "How do you know all this?" Lavender waved the book at him, and added, "I used to watch all the cop shows on TV, anyways. They had shows all about forensic science." "Fingerprints and all?" Lavender laughed. "Yeah, fingerprints and all." "That's neat," he said. "But why are you interested in this? You're only fifteen." "Well, before I came here, I wanted to be a forensic scientist, and work with the police department and stuff." "Do you get free food?" Pippin asked excitedly. Lavender laughed again and remarked, "Food is the only thing you think about, isn't it?" "Potatoes," Pippin reminded her. "My life would be VERY different if I were a potato. Everything would be really dark, and I'd live in the dirt." His eyes widened with horror. "Somebody might eat me! Then it would be very hot..." Lavender let Pippin amuse himself and turned back to her book. She didn't get very far, though. A few moments later, a man flew down the steps and landed directly on top of her. "What the heck do you think you're doing, jerk!" she shrieked, getting up. A crowd of people had surrounded them. The man was lying on the ground where he had fallen. Lavender kicked him in the face. Another man drew his sword to kill the man who had fallen down the steps, and got an encouraging shout from Lavender, but Aragorn stopped him. Lavender was thoroughly disappointed, but kicking him in the face again made her feel a little better. The man stood up and ran away as Lavender was introduced to Theoden and Eowyn. Lavender and Eowyn got along right from the start. They talked for a long time, but had to stop when Theoden announced that they were retreating to Helm's Deep. Lavender threw her book back into her backpack and made sure that Pineapple was comfortable before mounting Aurora Borealis and helping Merry and Pippin up behind her. The ride to Helm's Deep started out being very boring, until Lavender randomly screamed, "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" People stared at her. Merry tapped her on the shoulder. "Alice in Wonderland," she whispered, answering his question before it was asked. "It's one of my favorite books." "But I thought you were reading a book on florescent science," Pippin stated in confusion. Lavender shook her head and said, "I've read a lot of books, not just the one on forensic science." "What about that other book you have?" Merry pointed out. "You mean, Sherlock Holmes?" Lavender asked. "Yeah, that one." "It's one of the hundreds of books I've read." "You read a lot, don't you?" Pippin asked. Merry hit him on the head. Lavender let those two squabble and turned to Eowyn, who was walking with them. "What's your horse's name?" Eowyn asked. "Aurora Borealis," Lavender told her, quite proudly. Eowyn looked like she'd swallowed a lemon. "That's a, uh, very nice name," she stammered. Lavender looked very proud. Suddenly, there was a shout and what appeared to by a giant, mutated hyena appeared over a hill, bearing an orc as a rider. Legolas hit the warg (the mutated hyena) with an arrow. But soon more appeared over the hill. Lavender grabbed her sword and prepared for battle, but Aragorn grabbed the horse's reins and stopped her. "Hey!" Lavender cried. "Let go!" "No! You can't go out there!" Aragorn insisted. "You'll get hurt!" "How many times have you said that?" "Lots." "How many times have I listened?" "None." Aragorn was getting suspicious. "And how many times have I actually gotten hurt?" "Hey, there's a first time for everything," Aragorn pointed out. "What makes you think I'm actually going to listen?" Lavender asked, raising her eyebrow. Aragorn didn't say anything, just shook his head. "I thought so," Lavender stated. "Now let go before I kick your face!" Aragorn did not let go, which was unfortunate for him because he did get kicked in the face. Before he could do anything, Lavender was charging into the battle, sword raised, with Merry and Pippin hanging on for dear life. Aragorn decided to just let it go, and charged into battle himself. Lavender was doing very well, actually, until Merry fell off the horse. She quickly mastered the art of charging at an oncoming warg and stabbing the rider as they passed. She turned to horse sharply, and Merry lost his balance and tumbled off the saddle. He fumbled for his sword to meet an approaching orc, but it didn't look like he'd make it time! Lavender yelled at Pippin to take Aurora Borealis from here. She jumped off the horse and stabbed the orc before it got to Merry. "Thanks," he said, smiling. Lavender smiled back, then turned to chop off another orc's head. The battle was pretty much uneventful, unless you count that they spent a while time killing orcs. Lavender and Merry stuck together like glue until they were done fighting. The battle didn't last too long. Lavender had managed to locate Pippin and Aurora Borealis, and was mounted on her horse, before she scanned the crowd headed for Helm's Deep. "WHERE'S ARAGORN?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Legolas shook his head. "What's going on?" Lavender asked suspiciously. "Aragorn went over a cliff," Legolas told her, grimly. Lavender's eyes got very big. "What?!" she cried. "That can't happen! There's no one to annoy!"  
  
Lavender sat, among the other women, in the large stone cave at the very back of Helm's Deep. She had wedged herself into a corner, not wanting to be seen. The men were preparing for battle. The only reason that she was not with him was because Aragorn had arrived at Helm's Deep safely. Lavender was not sure if she was happy about this or not. Immediately upon his arrival, he had appointed several women to guard Lavender so that she could not sneak away and join in the battle. Lavender had done all she could to get away. She had hidden when the women came to find her, but they found her anyway. She begged them to let her go, pleaded with them, shouted at them, and even cried a little, but it did not good. She even kicked one of the women once, and ran. But, as she was not a good runner, she was soon caught. There seemed to be nothing she could so, except sit and be miserable. She wished that Merry and Pippin were there. Aragorn had not let them participate in the battle either, but they didn't put up near as much fuss as Lavender did. He had also forbidden them to go near Lavender, and taken her backpack away. She had no music, no books, and no gopher. She was miserable. Until she heard a whisper from behind her. "Hey, Lavender!" She turned around, and saw Merry's face from a crack in the rock. "Merry!" she whispered. "What are you doing?" "Come on, quick!" he urged. "Climb through!" None of her guards were paying any attention. They were sitting a ways away, talking, with their backs to Lavender. So Lavender squeezed through the little crack and found herself in a dark tunnel. "Where are we?" she asked. Merry explained that he and Pippin had been poking around when they came upon the tunnel, hidden in the rock. Merry had followed it out of curiosity and discovered that it led right to where Lavender was being held hostage. "Let's go," Lavender said joyously. "Let's chop off an orc head or two!" "Wait!" Merry cried, stopping Lavender from running off and joining the battle. "What now?" Lavender asked. "You can't," Merry insisted. "Aragorn said so." "What's that got to do with anything?" "Well, he IS the highest authority..." "You're making stuff up." Lavender rolled her eyes. "Just tell me the truth. Why can't I fight?" "What if you get hurt?" Merry blurted. Lavender just shook her head. "I didn't get hurt before, and I won't get hurt now," she insisted. But Merry looked genuinely concerned. Lavender thought for a minute, then took off her necklace and showed it to him. "See this?" she said. "If I'm wearing it, I can't get hurt." "But it's just a necklace." "It's not JUST a necklace!" Lavender cried in astonishment. "It's magical fairy dust! That's not JUST a necklace!" Merry examined the unique design on the ornament. A miniature bottle contained blue sparkly dust, behind a silver fairy. "I got it for my twelfth birthday," Lavender told him. "It's my fairy dust. It brings good luck. So, if I'm wearing it, which I always am, no harm can come to me." Merry looked a bit more relieved, so Lavender smiled and put her necklace back on. Before he could say anything, she was running through the tunnel, making her way through a swamp of people, and making her way to the vicious battle going on outside.  
  
Aragorn was astonished when he saw Lavender just show up out of nowhere and begin fighting. So astonished, in fact, that he almost passed out. When his wave of sickness was over, he made his way over to Lavender and began yelling at her. "What are you doing?!" he shouted. "I'm just trying to help!" she yelled back. "I heard you guys weren't doing so well!" "We're fine! Now go find Merry and Pippin and stay with them!" Aragorn was positive that Merry and Pippin would never disobey him. "Well, I kind of can't," Lavender said. "They're somewhere in the battle, and I don't know where, exactly." Aragorn really did pass out this time, but revived when Lavender stepped on his face. She frowned at him. "Look, there's not much you can do about it," she told him. "You COULD have listened to me," he grouched, getting up. "And miss all the action?! No way!" 


	11. An Argument

~Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while! Stupid writer's block! And school, as well. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Read and please please pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease review!!!!~  
  
"Didn't I tell you this would happen?!" Aragorn snarled at Lavender, setting her down on the ground (he had been carrying her), once again in the back caves of Helm's Deep. She made a face at him. He glared at her and snapped, "STAY AWAY from the battle, while I find Merry and Pippin and return to my duties, which I never should have had to leave in the first place!" "It wasn't my fault!" Lavender cried. "How is it not your fault?!" Aragorn shrieked. "You can't get hit with an arrow if you're not fighting in the first place!" He motioned to the arrow that had pierced her upper arm. She shrugged, grimaced a bit, and said carelessly, "It's nothing. I want to fight!" "We won't last through the night!" he shouted. "Now stay HERE!" Lavender sighed and leaned against the wall, glaring at him as he left. She didn't want to admit it, but she WAS in pain. Not severe pain, but pain nonetheless. The battle raging outside wasn't going well. It looked as if Helm's Deep may be lost after all. Not that it had a chance to begin with. A lady, obviously a nurse, came up to Lavender but nearly fainted when she saw the arrow in her arm. "Good gracious!" she cried hysterically. "It's not that bad," she assured the woman. "It's not deep at all." The lady looked at Lavender like she was crazy. Lavender was tired of being stared at, and would've made it clear to the woman had Merry and Pippin not rushed in at that moment. Merry's eyes filled to the brim with tears right away, and Pippin let out a shriek that made Lavender's ears hurt. "OH MY GOSH!" Pippin screamed. "SHE'S DYING! SHE'S DYING! WHAT WILL WE DO??!!!" He knelt on the ground and began praying. Merry and Lavender both ignored him. Merry sat down next to Lavender and sighed. She reached over and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm okay," she told him. "Honestly." She snatched a rag from the woman (who was still staring at her like she was insane), yanked the arrow out of her arm like it was nothing, tossed it aside, and pressed the rag to her arm. Merry watched in horror. She raised her eyebrow at him. "Honestly, Merry, it's NOT THAT BAD!" she insisted. She removed the rag, but blood began gushing out of her wound and she slapped the rag back on. "Here, could you just tie that around my arm so it stays?" she asked Merry. He looked ready to barf, so she yelled for Pippin to help her. Once the rag was in place, she stood up and grabbed her sword. Merry leaped up and forced her to sit down again. Her eyes widened, as if she'd just faced the worst kind of betrayal. "Merry.," she whispered. "But..I thought you were my friend." "I AM your friend," he told her. "And, as your friend, I don't want to see you get hurt again." "Oh, I won't get hurt." She tried to get up, but Merry wouldn't let her. She crossed her arms and pouted a while, but Merry wouldn't change his mind. Lavender began to grow bored. She tried to nudge Merry, but pain shot through her arm. "Ow!" she cried. Merry was alert in an instant, hovering over her, wanting to know what was wrong, what he could do to help, if she was okay, etc. "I can handle it, Merry," she said through clenched teeth. "I'm a healer, remember?" Merry didn't look as if he believed a word she said. She frowned. "Well, I am," she snapped. "I know you are," he said. "But that arrow went in pretty deep, didn't it?" "No, it didn't!" Merry shook his head and said, "Maybe you should see a REAL healer. A more skilled one. I know this is worse than you're making it out to be, Lavender." "And what makes you think that?" she demanded. He didn't respond, but bowed his head to hide the expression of deep sadness. "Really, Merry, it's fine," she insisted. "I don't need to see a healer." "Just promise that if it's not better soon, you'll see one," he compromised. Lavender thought for a minute, then agreed, though definitely not happy about it.  
  
"I'm bored," she complained a while later. The battle was still going on outside. Suddenly, Pippin let out a squeal of delight and held up some mushrooms he had discovered in exploring the cave. "They must be cooked!" he cried. Lavender and Merry watched in amusement as he stumbled around frantically, searching for firewood, dropped the wood on his toe, burnt himself in an attempt to make a fire, accidentally ignited his cloak, burnt the mushrooms, and finally choked on a blackened mushroom. He gave up and sat down next to Lavender, looking quite disappointed. Lavender dug through her backpack and pulled out the dress that Galadriel had given her as a gift, the pale lavender one. "Here, Pippin, burn this," she said. "Maybe it'll make you feel better." Pippin's eyes widened with excitement, but before he could set fire to the dress, Merry snatched it away. "What was that for?" Pippin cried. "This was Lavender's gift from Galadriel," Merry reminded him. "You can't just destroy it!" Lavender frowned and said, "I don't even want it. Just let him burn it." "It would look pretty on you," Merry stated, blushing a bit. "Pretty schmitty." Lavender rolled her eyes. "I DON'T WEAR DRESSES. You were the one who told me not to let everyone else boss me around, Merry. You said you liked me, whether I was a lady or not." Uh, well..." Merry couldn't really say anything. He was saved by Pippin screaming, "TELL US A STORY, LAVENDER! TELL US A STORY!" "Okay, fine. Let's see." She thought for a while. "I got one! Okay, my friend Candice and I used to do forensics together-" "Forensics? You mean, DNA and fingerprints?" Pippin interrupted. "No, a different kind of forensics," Lavender explained. "It's like acting, but there's rules to it. There's time limits and no costumes or props and stuff. Anyway, Candice and I were at a competition, and we met some people from another school. So we walked with them downtown, and on the way back, Candice was walking in the middle of a BUSY road. And me and this girl we met heard a really loud honking, and we turned around and we saw a bus coming really fast toward Candice! So we yelled at Candice to get out of the road, but she didn't hear us and just kept walking. And at the VERY LAST SECOND, the girl I was walking with heroically threw herself in front of the bus and shoved Candice out of harm's way! And then, right before the bus was about to plow over her, she managed to get out of the way. And Candice nearly DIED! And the girl we met nearly died for her!" "You're making stuff up!" Pippin cried. Lavender shook her head. "Nope!" Pippin was impressed, but Merry didn't say anything. He looked as if he didn't care. Lavender was crushed, and turned her head so that he wouldn't see the tears brimming in her eyes. She didn't know why she was so upset. Not everyone liked her stories. Certainly, most people didn't. Still, she had thought that Merry was her friend. And suddenly, he was acting all weird around her. He had said that he would like her whether she was a lady or not, but he wouldn't let her fight, kept bugging her about her arm, and encouraged her to wear the dress. It was like, everything he said before didn't matter. Like she wasn't as good as him. That's when it hit her. 'I'm not as good as him!' she thought. 'I'm not as good as any of them! Just because I'm a girl. He looks down upon me, because I'm a girl! He thinks I'm not capable of doing things on my own, because I'm a GIRL! Oh, he'll be sorry!'  
  
Lavender glared around at everyone entering the caves. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were all gloating about how splendidly the battle had been won. She wished she had been there. Gandalf was back, as well. And he was insisting that they must ride to Isengard as quickly as possible. Lavender snorted. "And I suppose I'll be staying here, then?" she said loudly. "No, as a matter of fact," Aragorn informed her, not looking too happy. "You're coming with us." "Why?" Lavender asked suspiciously. "We're taking you to see a healer!" Legolas cried joyfully. "NO!" she shrieked. "My arm is fine! I don't need a healer! I AM a healer!" "We mean a REAL healer, Lavender. Now, don't make so much fuss over such a little thing," Gandalf said impatiently. "We need to get to Isengard." "Have fun," Lavender announced, turning to leave. Legolas grabbed her by the waist and carried her to his horse. She kicked and screamed, but he would not put her down. "LEGOLAS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON MY SIDE!" He didn't say anything. Lavender gave up struggling, because of the intensifying pain in her arm. "If I have to go with you," she groaned, "can I at least ride my own horse?" "You can't ride a horse one-handed," Aragorn snapped. "I can too!" "Well, you won't!" She was forced to ride with Legolas the whole way. Merry rode Aurora Borealis. Lavender repeatedly shot angry glares at Merry, who wondered why she was so mad at him all of a sudden.  
  
No sooner had they reached Isengard when fighting broke out. Gandalf left to do whatever he had to do about Saruman, while Legolas tried to break up the screaming war between Merry and Lavender. "BUT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Merry shouted. "THE HELL YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Lavender screamed back. "YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME, JUST BECAUSE I'M A GIRL! THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU USED TO BE NICE TO ME!" "I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO FIGHT IN THE BATTLE BECAUSE YOU GOT HURT!" "I WASN'T HURT! I WAS FINE! YOU TREAT ME LIKE I'M A BABY! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!" "I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP!" "YOU'RE A F****** MORON!" "YOU'RE SUCH A B**** SOMETIMES!" Everyone gasped when they heard Merry say that. Everyone knew that Merry liked Lavender, more than just a friend. Everyone except Lavender, who didn't seem to take the hint at all. "GO TO HELL!" she screamed, and stomped off. Merry stood in astonishment. Not only could he not believe the words she had said to him, he couldn't believe what HE had said to HER. He felt like crying. Crying was exactly what Lavender was doing. She knew it wasn't right for her to say such things to Merry, but they were true. He deserved it, anyway. He had said some pretty nasty stuff to her, and he treated her like a little child. 'Who needs him?' she told herself, but not able to keep back more tears.  
  
~Yeah, I know. Merry and Lavender got in a fight. Don't worry. They make up next chapter. Please review!~ 


	12. The Army

~I know you all must be DEVASTATED about the fight Merry and Lavender had. Don't worry! All is well! The little leprechaun will make everything better! (Someone had too much sugar)~  
  
Lavender spent the next few days avoiding Merry at all costs. But somehow, fate seemed to be against them, and they wound up returning to Helm's Deep together....without Pippin. Pippin tended to get into trouble, but he'd really done it this time. 'God, Pippin!' Lavender thought. 'Why couldn't you leave the big, shiny ball alone?' After Pippin had stolen the Palintir, it was insisted that Gandalf and Pippin leave immediately. Lavender had wanted to go with them, but Aragorn would not allow it. So, she was stuck with Merry, maybe forever. It was quite obvious that she was not going back to New York, and they'd probably never see Frodo or Sam again. They might not see Pippin again, either. The thought was enough to make Lavender want to scream. Pippin had been her only source of sanity ever since her fight with Merry. But now, riding to Helm's Deep, there was no Pippin. There was no way for her to escape from Merry.  
  
Lavender sulked some more. Merry had gone and joined Theoden's army, which was now marching off to aid somebody or another. Lavender didn't pay any attention any more. She had tried to join the army, of course. But she was not allowed. "I WISH EVERYONE WAS DEAD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. To make matters worse, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli had left as well, to take the Paths of the Dead. Pretty much, it was just her and Merry. Any attempts to avoid him were in vain. "Why won't you just tell me what's bothering you?" he kept asking. Finally, she lost her temper. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!" she yelled. "YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT'S BOTHERING ME!" Merry looked hurt. He sadly walked away, hanging his head. Lavender felt bad that she had shouted at him. Still, if he felt it was his duty to treat her like a helpless child, then let him deal with the consequences.  
  
"He hates me," Lavender muttered, hanging her head. "No he doesn't," Rhia stated firmly. "He just cares about you. He's trying to protect you." "I don't need protecting!" Lavender insisted. "I just want to be able to do what I want to do! And for once in my life, I WAS. Ever since I came to Middle Earth, my life was about ME, not my sister or my parents or my grades or whatever. I don't want to give that up just yet." "Maybe you should try to talk it out with him," Rhia suggested. Tawny showed up at that moment, and stayed just long enough to stick her tongue out at Lavender, then left again. "I don't want to talk to anybody!" Lavender cried. "He hates me and I hate him!" Rhia rolled her eyes and gave up.  
  
Lavender rode Aurora Borealis in silence. Merry was nowhere to be seen. She thought about what Rhia had suggested. Maybe she SHOULD talk to Merry. No, she couldn't. He'd hate her more than ever. "And I hate him, too," she said aloud, to no one in particular. "Hate who?" a voice beside her asked. Lavender jumped in surprise. "Oh, nobody," she said to the soldier. There was silence for a moment, and then Lavender asked the soldier's name. "Dernhelm," he told her. Lavender nodded and said, "Well, my name's Lavender." Dernhelm wanted to know what Lavender was doing, traveling with a bunch of soldiers. Lavender frowned. "You're just like everyone else, aren't you?" she snapped. "I'm here because I was injured in battle and I WAS being taken to see a healer, except I had a fight with one of my friends and I hate him now, and my only other friend stole a Palintir and now he's gone with Gandalf, and Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli left me here with these people, and the only person here that I know is Merry, but we hate each other and my arm REALLY HURTS and I want to fight in battle but nobody will let me!" She took a deep breath, having not breathed at all on shouting at Dernhelm. He didn't say anything. Lavender immediately felt terrible for yelling at him. "I'm sorry," Lavender apologized quickly, and rode off before he could say anything.  
  
"Hey," Merry said, riding beside Lavender. Whatcha thinkin' about?" "My sister," Lavender had responded, before she remembered that she was mad at Merry. She frowned at him, and was about to direct Aurora Borealis in another direction, but Merry stopped her. "I want to talk to you," he said. Lavender was obviously not pleased, but she muttered, "Fine then, talk." "I saw you talking to Dernhelm." "Yelling at him," Lavender corrected. Merry shrugged and continued, "Anyway, I talked to him too. Dernhelm wants to help us." "Help us how?" Lavender wanted to know. "He knows that neither of us are supposed to go into battle, and that we both want to. He offered to help us get into battle." Lavender was confused. "You can't fight?" "No." Merry shook his head. "I'm in Theoden's service, but I'm not a soldier. I wouldn't be able to fight anyway. I'm too short." Lavender wanted to go into battle very badly, and said, "Tell Dernhelm I'm in." "No way!" Merry cried. "You can't do that!" "WHAT?!" Lavender shouted. "You come here with an offer to help me get into battle, and then tell me I CAN'T?! Just go away, Merry! Leave me alone!" She galloped off on Aurora Borealis, which was a bit difficult since she was still having trouble using her left arm, but she managed. But Merry was not going to give up. He followed her. When he caught up to her, he announced, "Look, I'm sorry that you can't go and fight, but you're already hurt, and I'm not talking the chance that it will happen again!" "Why are you doing this to me?" Lavender demanded. "Doing WHAT?" "You're acting like I'm a little kid who can't take care of herself! A while ago, you didn't care if I went into battle, and here you are now doing your best to stop me!" "Don't you listen?! You're already hurt! I don't want that to happen again! It's not because you can't take care of yourself. I know you can! But I care about you, and I don't want to see you get killed!" "But I won't!" "It's a war, Lavender! People die! Don't think that it won't happen to you, because it very well may! And if it did, I don't know what I'd do." Lavender sighed and said, "I guess I've been acting like a jerk, haven't I?" "No, not really, well, okay, yes," Merry replied honestly. "But I was, too. I was concerned for you." "I'm sorry I was so mean," Lavender apologized. "I'm sorry, too." They both smiled, and Lavender asked, "Are we still friends?" "You bet!" Merry cried.  
  
~Hey, I know this chapter's kinda short, but I had absolutely NO ideas. The actual battle will be later on. If my writer's block happens to suddenly disappear by then! The next chapter probably won't be up for a while. Please review, because I LOVE having your opinions on my stuff!~ 


	13. Ringwraiths and asthma

~Hey guys, hope you like this chapter! My friend said chapter 10 was too mushy, but I am not naturally a mushy person and do not see how. Tell me if you like! I REALLY like reviews! I haven't had any in ages..*sniff*..well, hope you like this chapter!~  
  
"God, I'm bored!" Lavender cried. They were still marching to battle. Lavender still had no idea where they were going.  
"I miss Pippin," she complained. "I wanna DO something! This is boring! I wish I had my football or my baseball glove or something!"  
Merry looked horrified, and cried, "You can't do that! Your arm is still hurt!"  
"Merry....." Lavender warned. He shut his mouth. True, her arm was still not in the best condition. Merry had made a sling for it out of one of his old shirts. The wound was healing, but it was still painful for her to move it. This upset Lavender greatly. Though she was right handed, and it was her left arm that had been injured, she did most things with her left hand (mostly, hitting people and throwing stuff). She'd also been in a few fights with some of the soldiers who got on her nerves, but she could only kick them in the shins and run away. Theoden had taken possession of her sword, by the way, or else she could still have used it.  
"I don't care about my arm," Lavender told Merry, and this was true. "I'm bored and I wanna DO something!"  
  
Strangely enough, when they had halted marching (or riding, as Merry and Lavender were doing on Aurora Borealis), and Lavender opened her backpack, there were two of her old baseball gloves, and a baseball.  
"See!" Lavender shrieked at Merry. "I TOLD you my stuff just turns up in my backpack!"  
Merry couldn't really say anything. He didn't need to. Within seconds, Lavender had handed him a glove and grabbed her own.  
"Let's play catch!" she cried joyfully. Merry, a bit nervously, followed her away from the pack of soldiers. Lavender explained how to use the glove, and began teaching him how to play. Having lived in Middle Earth all his life, he'd never played baseball before.  
"Now if only we had a bat," Lavender mumbled.  
"Why do we need BATS?" Merry wanted to know.  
"To hit the ball," Lavender explained. Merry was confused, and asked, "Isn't it a little hard to hit a baseball with a bat? Wouldn't it hurt the poor thing?"  
"Not a BAT, Merry!" Lavender cried. "Not those little flying animals! A BASEBALL bat! It's pretty much a long stick you use to hit a baseball with."  
Merry's face paled. He knew perfectly well what would happen if Lavender acquired a baseball bat, and he prayed to the lord and every saint and angel he knew of that Lavender didn't get one.  
"Watch it, Merry!" Lavender cried, a split second before the ball hit Merry square in the face. He fell to the ground. Lavender ran over.  
"Ya gotta pay attention," she told him, helping him up.  
They tossed the ball around a bit more, but not for long. Merry made Lavender sit down after a while, owing to the fact that she could barely lift her arm to catch the ball.  
"I'm fine!" she insisted.  
"No, you're not," Merry said, giving her a boost onto Aurora Borealis. Lavender rolled her eyes.  
"Here," she said, taking Pineapple out of her backpack and carefully handing her to Merry. "Take her for a walk."  
"WHAT?!" he cried. The gopher is his arms seemed to grin wickedly at him. "It'll kill me! Look, it wants to eat me!"  
"SHE isn't hungry right now," Lavender informed him. "I just gave HER a dead mouse I found. But she's bored and needs some exercise."  
"So you take it for a walk."  
" 'You're still hurt. We should stop. You should rest.' "  
"Okay, fine!" Merry set Pineapple on the ground and walked away, the gopher right at his heels. Two minutes later, Merry came running back, screaming. Pineapple was chasing him. Merry hid behind Dernhelm's horse, and watched as Pineapple stopped and squealed at Lavender to pick her up. Lavender jumped off the horse and settled Pineapple back into her backpack, then turned to see where Merry was hiding.  
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked sweetly, once Merry had cautiously stepped out of hiding.  
"Not so bad?!" he cried. "That thing tried to eat me! I told you it would!"  
Lavender looked hurt. "Maybe she just doesn't like you, then."  
"Damn right it doesn't like me!"  
Lavender's face lit up. "Merry!"  
"What?"  
"You said 'damn'!"  
"Yeah, so?"  
"I'm rubbing off on you, aren't I?" She looked quite pleased with herself.  
  
Lavender shifted around uncomfortably, the poked Dernhelm in the ribs.  
"Ow!" she heard him say. "Quit it, or we'll get caught!"  
"Remind me again WHY we have to hide under your cloak," Lavender hissed. Dernhelm groaned, but recounted his speech for about the ninetieth time. They had to hide because Merry and Lavender weren't even supposed to BE here, and if they ever wanted to get into battle they had to do it secretly.  
"Why secretly?" Lavender demanded.  
"Because Theoden will keep you out of battle if he knew you were here!" Dernhelm was losing patience.  
"Why?"  
She knew perfectly well why, but she was bored and irritating Dernhelm was her only form of entertainment.  
"I've explained this a billion times! You know why! I'm not repeating it again!"  
"But WHY?"  
"Lavender, if you don't shut up right now, I'm handing you over to Theoden! Is that what you want?! Not to fight?!"  
Lavender shut up, but she was still bored. She was sitting behind Dernhelm, and Merry was behind her. She turned to Merry.  
"Check on Pineapple," she ordered. He did it without question, getting his fingers snapped at in the process.  
"She's evil as ever," he reported.  
"Don't say things like that about Pineapple!" Lavender cried, much louder than necessary.  
"Shhh!" Merry clamped a hand over her mouth. She glared at him, and he removed his hand, but warned her to be quiet.  
"There's someone else out there! I hear them!" he whispered, before she could say anything.  
"There's lots of someone else out there! There's a whole army of someone else out there!" Lavender said, at a volume just barely loud enough to make Merry and Dernhelm nervous. They both knew she was testing them, and decided to ignore it.  
"I mean, someone NOT in the army," Merry muttered.  
"You mean that big hairy dude?" Lavender asked.  
"Who?!"  
"That big hairy dude who's been following us."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! I saw you spying on Theoden yesterday afternoon!"  
Merry went red. "I didn't mean for anyone to see me."  
Lavender rolled her eyes and said, "Well, you weren't being very sneaky. Now I was sneaky! I was about three feet behind you and you didn't even notice!"  
"But-"  
"That big hairy dude has been following us for ages."  
"How do you know that?" Merry demanded. This time, Dernhelm warned HIM to be quiet.  
"I've got good hearing," was all Lavender said.  
  
Dernhelm, Merry, and Lavender charged into the battle, swords raised, ready to fight. Orcs had surrounded the city. Theoden led his army into battle.  
  
Lavender was torn away from Merry in the midst of the battle. The sky was black, she could barely see. The orcs had built fires, a lot of them. The air was thick and smoky. She choked back a cough. Hearing a shriek, she turned to see Dernhelm confronting a Ringwraith! She tried to shout to him, but her cry was drowned out in the noise of the battle. She saw Dernhelm throw back his hood. It was Eowyn! She cheered when Eowyn struck the wraith in the head. A movement caught her eye. Merry was coming up behind the wraith! She watched in horror as he stabbed the wraith behind the knee, and collapsed. She didn't bother to watch Eowyn finish off the wraith. She struggled through the crowd to get to Merry.  
"Merry!" she screamed when she reached him, kneeling on the ground next to him. "Come on!"  
He shook his head, but clutched his arm.  
"You need to see a healer!" Lavender cried. He didn't want to move, so Lavender pulled him to his feet and began to help him into the city. She tried to say something, but couldn't when her body was wracked by a choking cough. It was Merry's turn to ask if she was all right.  
"I'm fine," she gasped. "But you need to see a doctor."  
She helped Merry sit down on someone's doorstep. A shadow fell over them. It was Pippin.  
"Pippin!" she cried, and jumped up to give him a big hug. He hugged her back.  
"Merry needs help," she told him, and coughed again. She coughed so hard she had to sit down. She felt dizzy and weak. Breathing was difficult. The air was too smoky from the fires. The city was burning. The world was spinning before her eyes.  
"You're shaking like a leaf!" Pippin said worriedly. Lavender nodded, and gasped for breath. She knew exactly what was happening. It had happened before. She was having an asthma attack.  
"Get help for Merry," she whispered. Merry had passed out by that point. Pippin began to protest, but Lavender insisted that he go.  
"I'll get help," she told him, "but Merry is more important right now."  
Pippin nodded obediently and left with Merry on a horse.  
Lavender stood up, very shakily, and took a few weak steps before she stumbled and fell. She felt panic rising.  
Stop, she told herself. Breathe slowly, don't panic. Once she regained her control, she pushed herself onto her knees and crawled back to the doorstep. She decided that the best thing to do would be to wait for someone to find her. An idea struck her. Maybe her inhaler would be in her backpack! But...where was it????! Oh no! Her backpack was gone! She must have dropped it while she was fighting! She bit her lip, determined not to cry. That would only make her situation worse. She forced herself to breathe more slowly, while she waited for someone to find her.  
  
~I hope you like this chapter, please review! Oh yeah, I DO have asthma, I know how scary an attack can be. In case you're wondering how it happened to Lavender, smoke is NOT a good thing. It can really set off your asthma. Even just a little bit. And, panicking and crying are probably the two worst things you can do during an attack. Unfortunately, they are the two things most likely to happen during an attack, as well. But don't worry, Lavender isn't going to die! I wouldn't do that to her. Please review!~ 


	14. Is he dead?

~Hey, I have no idea why I'm even still posting, because NO ONE has reviewed in ages. Are you guys even reading my story???? If you are, please give me some knowledge of it. I'll even accept a negative review at this point! Because pretty soon, I just won't post. I can show it to my friends a lot easier than posting it.~  
  
Lavender sat on the steps, gasping for breath and trying to decide what to do. The city was in flames, a battle was raging outside, and she was in the middle of an asthma attack.  
'Get away from the fire, stupid!' her brain was screaming. But she didn't know if she could walk. She decided to give it a try. It was shaky, but she thought she could manage.  
Lavender actually got pretty far, supporting herself on anything within reach. But where should she go? Away from the fire. Obviously. But if she left the city, she'd be right in the midst of the battle. And she was so weak, she'd never be able to defend herself against attacking orcs. But she couldn't stay in the city. The smoke would only make her asthma worse.  
Having no idea what to do, and feeling to dizzy to continue, she decided to take a break and sat on the ground. The world was spinning before her eyes, and she could hardly breathe.  
It was difficult for Lavender to remember exactly what happened after that. She thought she fainted. She vaguely remembered lying on the ground, and seeing a horse's hooves in front of her face, and hearing Pippin's voice, urgent but very distant. Then she blacked out again.  
  
"See?! See?!" Tawny cried. "I TOLD you something bad would happen!"  
"No you didn't." Lavender rolled her eyes. "You were too busy not speaking to me."  
"Well, that's what I would've said if you weren't being such a jerk!" Tawny made a face and left.  
"Forget her," Rhia said. "She's just a grump."  
"So, I'm confused. WHAT happened?"  
Rhia looked astounded. "Don't you remember?"  
"I don't remember much of anything, to tell you the truth."  
"You had an asthma attack and collapsed in the middle of the street!"  
"Um..I think I remember something like that...."  
Rhia shook her head.  
"Well, it all gets....weird during an attack, you know?"  
Rhia shook her head again. "I don't know. I don't have asthma."  
"Well, you get all dizzy and you can't breathe and stuff...it does weird stuff to your head, but just during that little while that the attack is happening. It's kind of odd, an attack doesn't usually last more than a few minutes, unless it's a bad one, but it seems a LOT longer."  
"Uh huh." Rhia didn't seem to understand a bit. Lavender sighed.  
"LAVENDER!"  
Her eyes flew open. Pippin was yelling in her face. She shoved him aside, and slowly sat up.  
"Where am I?" she groaned. She looked around. Merry was on a bed nearby. Eowyn and another guy were lying on beds further away. (Let me know if that's right, it's been a while since I read the book, I think that's right.~) She was surprised to find that her breathing was much easier now, and she wasn't dizzy any more, though still a tad weak. She was more concerned for Merry, Eowyn, and the other guy. They looked unconscious.  
"You're in the Houses of Healing," Pippin told her. "You were healed from your amma-whatever it was."  
"It's asthma, Pippin. You can't cure it, I'm always going to have it."  
"OH NO! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"  
"I won't die, I just needed my medicine. Have you seen my backpack?"  
"Yeah, Aragorn found it. It's right here," Pippin said, holding it up.  
"Oh no!" Lavender cried. "Aragorn's here?!"  
"Yes!" Pippin smiled in excitement, not noticing Lavender's disappointment. "He was the one who healed you!"  
That shocked Lavender. Aragorn?! Heal HER?! But thinking about it gave her a headache, so she stopped.  
She dug around in her backpack and, thankfully, found her inhaler. Pippin stared curiously as she took her medicine.  
"What's that?" he finally asked, as Lavender put the inhaler back in her backpack.  
"It's my medicine," she explained. "Don't play with it or touch it. It'll be big trouble for the both of us if I don't have it when I need it."  
"I wasn't going to touch it," he said. "I was just wondering. You're really weird, Lavender."  
"I'm not from Middle Earth," she reminded him. "Before I came here, I was human, and I lived in New York. I may seem weird to you, but you guys seem pretty darn weird to me, too."  
"We do?"  
"Well, okay, not really," Lavender admitted. "Except that creatures live here that wouldn't seem possible back home. But the people here are typical. Sexist."  
"Sexist?"  
"Against females."  
"Females?"  
"I am a female, Pippin!"  
His eyes widened in horror. "YOU'RE A GIRL?!"  
"DUH! What, is it not obvious?!" She jumped up and stalked off, taking her backpack with her. But before she reached the door, it flew open and Aragorn entered. Lavender gave a little shriek of surprise and jumped back a few feet. He raised his eyebrow at her, and she went red.  
"Um..well, thanks for healing me," she mumbled, looking at the floor.  
"No problem," he said, still giving her an odd look. It was almost like she was afraid of him. Normally she'd say something mean and stomp off.  
"Is Merry going to die?" she asked suddenly. Aragorn was taken aback by her question, but replied honestly, "I don't know."  
"What happened to him?"  
"You were right there! Shouldn't you know?!"  
"It's all fuzzy. I don't remember much during my attack." She frowned. Didn't ANYBODY get that?  
"He stabbed a wraith. This is what happens when you touch one of them." He gestured to Merry and Eowyn. They were both unconscious, deathly pale. They looked already dead.  
"So, they're going to die?" Lavender's eyes filled with tears.  
"I surely hope not," Aragorn said. He looked a bit sad himself. Lavender sighed, walked over to Merry, and sat down next to him. Pippin and Aragorn left quietly.  
Lavender almost burst into tears when she looked at him. She didn't want him to die. He couldn't!  
She took off her necklace, the fairy dust, and placed it around his neck.  
"It brought me good luck, so maybe it'll bring you some, too." 


	15. Author's note

To Phantom Reviewer: You are very kind to flame my story. My computer messed up, and that's why it didn't go to new paragraphs. Also, Lavender is a MADE UP character. In real life, she'd probably be dead, and I DO make her a brat. That's kind of the point. If you read the whole thing, you'd see that she changes a bit. Please, don't review my story again.  
Thank you to all of the NICE reviewers out there! I love you all! 


	16. Stress

~Hey, I want to thank the people who have reviewed. *Sob!* You have made me so happy! Moving on, we'll see what happens. Hope you like!~  
  
Lavender walked over to a group of injured soldiers. The wounded who had made it back into the city were being tended to. The fires were all put out (thank goodness) but the battle was still raging outside the city.  
Lavender saw Aragorn helping some of the injured men, and hurried over. He looked up and saw her. "Go away."  
"I want to help! I'm a healer, remember?"  
"You'll just get yourself into trouble! You always do. Now go away and find something else to do."  
Lavender slowly walked away, hanging her head. No one thought she was capable of anything! She made her way away from Aragorn, kicking a rock. In landed near a man whom apparently nobody had noticed. Blood was running down his leg. Lavender glanced around, then grabbed some bandages while Aragorn wasn't looking and went to help the man.  
"Hold still," she instructed him gently, while she applied the bandages. He winced in pain, but didn't move.  
"How's the battle going?" Lavender wanted to know.  
"It wasn't going well at all, at first," the man said. "But once Aragorn got here, it all turned around. I think we're going to win."  
"I wish I was there." She smiled at him. "I was for a while, but then I had an asthma attack and my friend got hurt, so I helped him back to the city and..yeah."  
The guy was giving her a funny look. "You're a hobbit. You can't fight."  
"I can too," she said fiercely.  
"You're a female."  
"So?"  
"You're a child!"  
"I'm fifteen! I can handle myself. Besides, I was wearing my lucky necklace. There," she added, finishing applying the bandages. "Just don't walk on it for a while. Here, we should get you over with everyone else."  
She helped him up and over to the rest of the wounded men. Aragorn turned to grab some bandages when he saw Lavender helping the man, and shouted, "What are you doing?! I told you to go somewhere else! You're just going to get in the way!"  
"I'm just going to help!" she cried, grabbing some more bandages and turning to another injured man. Aragorn finally just gave up. Lavender squealed joyfully, and went to help the man. He looked shocked as she began to bandage his injured arm.  
"What's the matter?" Lavender asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"  
"You're a female!"  
"So? Females can be healers."  
The man wouldn't let her finish applying bandages. No one else would let her get close to them.  
"What am I, diseased or something?" she shouted, and stomped off. Aragorn shook his head and muttered, "I told you so," so that Lavender could not hear.  
  
"Is being female a crime, Pippin?" Lavender asked. They were sitting against a stone wall near the Houses of Healing. Lavender wouldn't go far from Merry.  
Pippin tried to answer her, but his mouth was full of an apple, and all that came out was, "Nsnt crrmm bbb fml."  
"Sorry, can you repeat that?"  
Pippin swallowed his mouthful and said, "No, it's not a crime to be female."  
"Then how come the world acts like it is?"  
"Why? What happened?" Pippin's eyes grew wide.  
"Oh, I just went to help some of the injured men, and all I got was a bunch of funny looks and complaints that females aren't healers. They wouldn't let me come near them!"  
"That's mean!" Pippin cried. Lavender sighed, saying that there really wasn't anything she could do. There was silence for a while, and then Lavender stood up.  
"I'm going to see Merry," she explained, and walked away. Pippin decided to leave her alone.  
  
The Houses of Healing were dark. Lavender sat down next to Merry. Her necklace was still on his neck. His face was so pale. He looked dead. Lavender started to cry. She surprised herself in doing so. She hardly ever cried. But then, she thought, the last time she cried had been because of Merry.  
Someone came up behind her, and she jumped a bit. She turned around and saw Aragorn.  
"What now?" she demanded, not happy that her least favorite person had caught her crying. He'd probably rub it in her face.  
"I just came to tell you that I've got the athelas I need to cure Merry and Eowyn," he said politely. Lavender regretted snapping at him.  
"Oh. I'll let you do that, then." She grabbed her bag and walked away. Tears were still running down her face. Yeah, Aragorn had what he needed. But what if he was too late? She tried not to think about it as she went to find Pippin.  
"What happened?!" he cried when he saw her. Lavender knew she must look awful. She just shook her head and muttered, "Nothing, I'm fine."  
"It's Merry, isn't it?"  
"You're brilliant, Pippin," Lavender muttered sarcastically. Pippin ignored this and said, "Merry will be fine. Aragorn's taking care of him."  
"What if he isn't fine, Pippin?!" Lavender had been feeling the urge to shout at somebody, and let loose on Pippin. "What if Merry dies? He's your best friend! Don't you care about him?"  
"Of course I care about Merry!" Pippin cried. "But I care about you, too!"  
"I bet." Lavender stormed off, leaving Pippin standing open-mouthed in shock.  
  
~There's more to come. I thank my reviewers! I have a severe case of writer's block (gee, what a surprise!), I just need time to think. My story isn't exactly humor any more, is it? In fact, it wasn't even humor to begin with. I had a lot of caffeine today, and my mind is totally screwed up anyways, I think I'm gonna write something weird, just for the heck of it! Thanks again to my reviewers!~ 


	17. I FINALLY POSTED!

~Hey, sorry I haven't updated in like, FOREVER! So, the story continues. Yes, Lavender is still a brat. I have so much FUN with her like that! Tawny and Rhia make their return! Yay! And of course, we cannot forget Pineapple!~  
  
When Aragorn found Lavender, she was sitting on the broken city wall, surveying the battlefield. Though the battle was long finished, bodies of orcs, men, and others slain littered the ground. She could pinpoint the exact spot she had been at when Merry and Eowyn killed the Ringwraith. Pineapple sat beside her, making tiny squeaking noises.  
"Lavender," Aragorn said loudly. She jumped a bit.  
"What do you want?" she snapped. "Come to make me feel worse?"  
"Sadly, no. We need your help."  
"With what? I'm worthless. Nobody needs me."  
"They would if you didn't keep pushing them away, you know!"  
Lavender turned her back on him and sat in silence.  
"I'm sorry," Aragorn muttered. "But please, this is important. We are going to battle."  
"We just got done with one."  
"Do you know how many orcs there are in Mordor right now? Thousands! How is Frodo supposed to get to Mount Doom when there are thousands of orcs in his way?"  
"I give up."  
"We're going to the gates of Mordor. Hopefully, Sauron's eye will be fixed upon us rather than Frodo. We'll draw the orcs to the gates."  
"And you are telling me this why?"  
"Because.because I want you to fight." Aragorn hung his head. Lavender tilted her head sideways at him, wondering if he had hit his head.  
"Wait.YOU want ME to fight? Are you sick or something?"  
"We need as many men- er, soldiers as possible."  
Lavender considered this a moment. "Count me in! Come on, Pineapple!" She dashed off, sword drawn. Aragorn shook his head and wondered what he had gotten himself into.  
  
Lavender and Pippin stood side by side, having gotten over their argument, with the rest of the soldiers at the gates of Mordor.  
"Pippin," Lavender whispered, so as not to interrupt Aragorn's speech to the men about bravery and 'It is not this day' and so forth. "If I die, you'll take care of Pineapple, won't you?"  
"You're not going to die!"  
"I hope not. But Merry still has my lucky necklace."  
"Good luck, then?"  
"Yes, good luck." They shook hands. Aragorn charged forward, followed by the rest of the men. Orcs swarmed in front all sides, and Lavender and Pippin were soon separated in the battle. Nothing entirely eventful happened, besides many decapitated orcs, until several cave trolls burst through the gates. Lavender screamed. The cave trolls had nearly destroyed Minas Tirith, and she herself had nearly been stepped on by them several times trying to get out of the way. To her horror, one of the cave trolls made his way directly to her. Instinctively, she threw up her sword to block the monstrous creature's blow. The strike was so heavy, however, that Lavender knew her sword wouldn't survive another. She tried to dive around behind it as it went to strike again. The cave troll stuck its leg in the way, trapping Lavender between it and the rest of the battle. She looked around for a way to escape, but found none, short of charging straight into a bunch of swords. The troll raised its club. Lavender tried to think if something to do, but could find nothing. Whichever way she went, she was going to die. There was no way out. She closed her eyes and waited for it. At the last second, she felt herself being pulled out of the way of the club, between several soldiers and out of harm's way. She opened her eyes to see.Tawny!  
  
~Okay, I decided to end it here, just for some suspense. Don't hate me! More is coming soon!~ 


End file.
